The decision by British viceroy Karen Bradley to veto attempts to launch a fresh inquest into the circumstances surrounding the deaths our comrades Ronnie Bunting and Noel Little in October 1980, confirms beyond doubt that both were victims of an assassination campaign coordinated by British military under the direct orders of the then Tory cabinet and Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
It has been the long-standing view of the IRSP that the political landscape of 1980, the execution of British military extremist Airey Neave and the momentum which subsequently grew behind our party provoked the fury of the then Tory cabinet, who, fearful of the prospect of a Marxist inspired national liberation movement in Ireland sought to remove by murder the intellectual backbone which provided guidance and advice to the Irish Republican Socialist Party.
The pattern of murders which were visited upon our leadership and political associates within the National H-Block/Armagh committee in the direct aftermath of Neave’s execution, including the murders of Dr Miriam Daly, the murder of IIP member John Turnley and the attempted murder of Bernadette McAliskey, suggest strongly that the British state directly initiated and provided for no less than a campaign of assassination with a view to removing the spectre of militant Socialism from the Irish political landscape.
The targeting of Noel Little and Ronnie Bunting (both dynamic intellectual thinkers and formidable military strategists) fitted perfectly into this dynamic. The subsequent nature of their murders was adequately and meticulously described by Ronnie’s wife Suzanne, who fought gallantly against the assassins to preserve the life of her beloved husband and comrade as he was shot to death before her eyes.
The overall combination of events and circumstances in that period led the IRSP to the conclusion that British soldiers acting under direct political orders (and assisted by willing stooges within the UDA and the RUC) conducted what was a campaign of murder against our party. This week’s direct intervention by a Conservative party member to refer the right of inquest back to her fellow Tory MP Jeremy Wright QC – citing the existence of ‘material which may be against the interests of national security’ – represents no less than a confirmation of our theory.
The Bunting and Little families are today witnessing a crass attempt to cover up what was a direct campaign of political murder initiated by the Whitehall elite against their loved ones.
The IRSP sends its regards to the Little and Bunting families at this time and asks the community to support the ongoing challenges on the right of Karen Bradley to cover up the murderous actions of her political predecessors.
For our part, the IRSP declares the continued existence and functioning of our party structures and ideology, the Tory campaign of murder visited upon us failed and our activists continue the political struggle for which Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting and Noel Little and our many other fallen comrades gave their lives.
