Scappaticci - a ‘joint enterprise’ of illegality
Letters to the Editor, Irish News, March 27th, 2025
THE disclosures I have made in my latest book – The Sorrow and the Loss – about Freddie Scappaticci and his associates, whether subversive or official, are factual, harsh realities of the ‘Dirty War’ which we endured. A lot has been made about the role of Scappaticci personally in all of this, but I think it appropriate to ask who facilitated this blood-soaked murder spree? Why was this permitted? These are questions of serious ‘public interest’ both to the population locally in north and south and to the people of Britain, in whose name the British authorities act.
I cannot answer for Operation Kenova or speculate as to its findings, but what I will say is that Mr Scappaticci was part of a ‘joint enterprise’ of illegality that was established, managed and developed by both his paramilitary associates and also by the people in state agencies who gave him and his accessories such undue influence over matters of life and death. That remains a stain on the institutions which are meant to uphold the rule of law and one which I would expect Operation Kenova to take serious consideration of, as I feel the victims’ families have a legitimate expectation to wider accountability for this collective dark episode of widespread malfeasance.
MARTIN DILLLON Author, The Sorrow and the Loss
I thought the people great despite sectarianism and prejudices that engulfed NI
Áine Toner, Belfast Telegraph, March 27th, 2025
IN OUR MEANING OF LIFE SERIES, LORD PETER HAIN, WHO WAS SECRETARY OF STATE FROM 2005 TO 2007, SPEAKS TO ÁINE TONER ABOUT FAMILY, HISTORY AND LEGACY
Lord Peter Hain is a fan of Snow Patrol. A recent post on X revealed his pleasure in watching the Northern Irish band perform again 20 years after first encountering them in Belfast.
The former Secretary of State speaks about the “great privilege” of meeting the group backstage after the gig.
Privilege is a word that pops up several times during his conversation with this newspaper. It's perhaps no surprise that his response when asked how he'd like to be remembered is as “somebody who's always trying to make a difference to improve the lives of others”.
Born in South Africa to parents who were anti-apartheid activists, the family emigrated to the UK in the mid-1960s.
Involved in civil rights from a young age, he joined the Liberal Party's youth wing and the British Anti-Apartheid Movement.
He was elected to the House of Commons in 1991, becoming a Labour whip four years later and joining the government in 1997.
From civil rights to politics, Lord Hain said he never had a career mapped out.
“When I meet young university students doing politics degrees and they ask me for advice on their career, I remind them that I didn't expect to be an MP and didn't even want to be an MP,” he says.
“When I was an MP, I never expected to be a minister, and when I was a minister, I never expected to be a cabinet minister.
“I certainly never expected to end up in the House of Lords which would have probably horrified the young activist Peter Hain when I was stopping all-white racist rugby and cricket tours and so on around the 1970 period.
Parents Legacy
“I think it's an evolution. My motto has always been to make a difference and that was imbued in my DNA or bred into my DNA from my parents. I supported my parents when they were so courageously active in Pretoria in the late 1950s and early 1960s — their activism forced us to go into exile because they stopped my dad working and before that jailed both my parents.
“I was used to the politics and I discussed politics a lot with my dad in particular and it was just part of my life.”
He stresses that his mum and dad were parents “in the normal sense of the term that most people would understand”.
“Their politics may have changed the course of all of our lives, but they were great parents and I think they were the best parents in the world. I guess everybody says that, but I certainly feel it with a passion.”
He adds: “They were very much part of a tiny, 0.1% of the white community who stood up against the tyranny of apartheid and the police state that supported it.
“They were never estranged from their siblings; it was their siblings who became estranged from them because it was prudent of them to do so.
“I think they [his parents' siblings] lacked a moral backbone, but then 99.9% of white South Africans did because they were doing very nicely out of the system.”
The conversation turns to the teaching of history in schools and universities, with Lord Hain a regular speaker on the reality of growing up under apartheid.
“I think people find that it's on the school curriculum, but it only really comes alive when they find somebody who's actually experienced it.
“I suppose it's not by any means the same and I wouldn't want to have it misrepresented as being so, but if you talk to an Auschwitz survivor or a Holocaust survivor about what they went through, it's a completely different world.
“There will be young people probably in work already certainly at higher education or having left school who never experienced the Troubles. And when people talk about them, it's a foreign and alien world, but it was very alive.”
Northern Ireland is never far from his thoughts, laughing when we say it's in his DNA to an extent. In his time as Secretary of State, he helped negotiate the settlement that brought the DUP and Sinn Fein into a power-sharing government.
Lord Hain says: “I loved the place and I loved the people.
“I thought the people were great despite the prejudices, the sectarianism and the horror that engulfed Northern Ireland and the scars of which still are very present.
“I think that's true for anybody who has been Secretary of State and anybody who has been a minister.
“It was a very intensive process when I was Secretary of State and I really enjoyed it.
“It was my duty, but it was also a privilege.”
Legacy, be it South Africa or Northern Ireland, remains centre stage for those living it, he says.
“Apartheid may have been transformed more than 30 years ago when Nelson Mandela was elected president but... you visit South Africa as I do and enjoy doing now.
“I was once public enemy number one and barred from going, but the legacy of apartheid was still absolutely centre stage and similarly the legacy of the Troubles is centre stage in Northern Ireland.
“For many people increasingly in their daily lives of family, job, work and play, it's a distant memory.
“However, in terms of moving society on, you just look at the problems the victims' groups face, that's going to take a long time.
Every bit as difficult as Israel-Palestine
“I get very frustrated and I say so. People seem to think that resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland, which we did when we brought Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness together in 2007, they think that's done and dusted and that Israel-Palestine is much more difficult.
“But I don't agree; I think the conflict in Northern Ireland was every bit as deep, every bit as bitter, every bit as difficult to resolve as the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
“There are a whole set of factors that are different and make the Palestinian-Israeli conflict much more challenging to resolve, particularly the lack of international alignment which was an important factor in Northern Ireland.
“But the Northern Ireland conflict was a very hard one to bring to a close, as was the apartheid conflict. It was very bitter and very entrenched. People take these things for granted and that frustrates me.”
Lord Hain is still involved in South Africa-related issues charitably and through campaigning. He's not, he says, working “anything like the hours” he did when he was an MP and cabinet minister.
“It's a different pace of life. I'm 75 now so I don't operate at the pace that I did before. I focus on where I think I can make a difference.
“I don't speak on everything; I speak quite sparingly about things I know about and things that I think people will listen to and might make an impact and might make a difference.
“You can retire from being a plumber or an electrician. You might do a bit of DIY in your own home or for your family, but you can retire from being in that sort of trade or you could retire from being a teacher, a nurse, an accountant or a lawyer.
“But I think once politics is in your DNA, it never goes away. At least it doesn't for me because it's what I feel strongly about.
“At the same time, it's quite difficult to strike a balance between personal life and family life. I've got seven grandchildren between the age of six and 23.
“On Monday, I'm taking two of the grandchildren to Parliament for the day which means I'm not going to do any duties in Parliament because I've turned down meetings from one of them on Northern Ireland because they've got to come first. But it's quite hard fitting all of that in.
“I don't live around the corner from any of my grandchildren in a way that my parents did for my two sons.
“I don't have that opportunity and they don't have that opportunity with me.”
Has he spoken to his grandchildren about their great-grandparents and their activism?
“I have spoken to pretty much all of their classes about what life was like because they wanted me to do it. But I don't stuff it down their throats.
“It's something that if they ask about it and the opportunity comes up, I'll tell them about it, but I don't bombard them.
“One of my older granddaughters operates my TikTok and Instagram accounts because she said I want to be on them.
“I said that I don't know anything about them, so she volunteered to operate them. It's a different relationship, particularly as they grow a bit older.”
Complete Shambles
Turning to regrets, Lord Hain says one of his main ones would be standing for the Labour Party deputy leadership in 2007 — something he calls a “catastrophic mistake” for multiple reasons.
“I didn't do well in the contests and it ended with a complete shambles in my campaign,” he explains.
In 2008, it was reported he had failed to declare £100,000 in donations during the campaign. He did not face charges for the late declarations, though he took responsibility and said that it had been an honest mistake.
“Not a penny went missing and not a penny went to me or went into my pocket, but I had to resign from the cabinet,” he says.
“I was out for a year before I was brought back and that was resolved.
“At the time when it was all going wrong, unbeknown to me I was negotiating the settlement in Northern Ireland and because I was Secretary of State for Wales at the time, still living in Wales, I didn't prioritise the campaign as much as I should have done.
“I was taking through a major piece of devolution for Wales as well. That's my biggest regret.
“Several things that I teach about are important to keep learning; every day I learn something new.
“You learn, you listen and you own up to your mistakes. The other one is don't be afraid to ask questions.
“I always say to my grandkids and to students that I teach that people think they are the only ones who don't know when they're having something explained to them.
“They feel embarrassed and they don't expose their ignorance.
“It's actually a sign of self-confidence to say 'I don't understand that'.”
When asked about treasured possessions, he mentions an award given to him by the South African government in 2015 for supporting the liberation struggle.
“That came with a parchment which is framed and a set of other insignia, so I would not want to lose that. I would not want to lose the photographs of my parents or my grandparents or my parents-in-law.
“Other things that have always been important to me are books. I've got about 1,000 books and I'm a fairly prolific author.
“There are two coming out this year. When we moved, when we downsized financially and physically in our house in Wales, we gave away a thousand books to the Swansea Miners' Library. That was quite hard to do, but there are still a hell of a lot of books and Elizabeth [his wife, Dr Elizabeth Haywood] is just as bad as me, but books are important to both of us.”
Writing across non-fiction and fiction, he describes it as “bloody hard work”.
“I find writing books to be hard. I find it very fulfilling and enjoyable, but it's not a walk in the park. You've got to be disciplined and you've got to have an approach to writing.
“Most people say, 'oh I want to write a book' and you give them advice and they don't get around to it because it isn't an easy thing to do.
“The one that's being published in September is set in China, Zimbabwe, South Africa and London, so it's a totally different set of characters. This one that I'm writing is on tobacco and gold smuggling and the Mafioso around that, but it has some of the core characters that were in The Conspiracy series.
“I've got another thriller coming out this year and I'm busy writing a further one at the moment which has a Northern Ireland character — a loyalist. I had a republican character in The Elephant Conspiracy, which is my second thriller.
“I've been doing some research into loyalism. I met quite a few loyalist leaders and one of my former Northern Ireland staffers, a very able staffer with whom I'm still in touch, she looked at my draft and made some corrections.
“I'm still in touch with some good friends in Northern Ireland.
“Many of them worked with me, but some others as well.”
The Lion Conspiracy by Peter Hain is published by Muswell Press (£14.99) and is available now. Follow Lord Hain on X @PeterHain.
