Academic & Global Security Expert
Recently I was contacted by the film-maker Sean Murray who was anxious to know if I had any dealings with loyalist Clifford Peeples. Like many journalists and academics I do know Mr Peeples. My contacts range far and wide across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland. It has been essential to my research over the past 25 years. This article explains the rationale for maintaining a wide and diverse array of contacts in a divided society like Northern Ireland.
A review of the central claims of my book Agents of Influence, which was published in 2021. It examined British strategy and tactics of intelligence operations against the IRA.
The publication of the Operation Kenova report into a British spy network inside the IRA has left one trail to run cold: Collusion in the murder of Loyalists It all started with a meeting I held with a source in a flat in Portadown. It was the summer of 2015 and I was in the…
The London UDA claims to have transitioned into an “old comrades association” – what does this mean for Northern Ireland’s loyalist paramilitaries?
Sources close to the UVF tell me that the group’s leadership is close to making a deal with the British government on what is being referred to as a “General Order of Disbandment.”
Who is “Winkie Irvine”, really? A source I spoke to in the wake of my revelation that Winkie Irvine had been expelled from the UVF confirmed to me just how disliked the former UVF commander actually was inside his own paramilitary group. Then he said something very interesting. “Many people,” he told me, “believed there…
It has become clear from further reports finding their way to me from multiple sources that a secret meeting did indeed take place on the Shankill on Wednesday night.
My sources close to the UVF have confirmed to me that a secret meeting of the 1st Belfast Battalion of the organisation was held last night in the Shankill. I understand that representatives from all UVF 1st Battalion companies were in attendance, as were members of the group’s ruling Brigade Staff. Allegations were made in…
“The saying goes that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but in this case… The basic problem is that the author is far too close to his subject to exhibit a meaningful degree of objectivity.” That’s what An Phoblacht, the official media outlet of the Provisional IRA, wrote about me in a review…
A trusted source has been in touch to inform me that a new formal political alliance is about to be launched this weekend.
When I broke the news that the East Belfast UVF leadership had been stood down on Remembrance Sunday last November it took a lot of people by surprise, even Northern Ireland’s media. Some of them moved quickly to check with their own sources, with two respected journalists, Hugh Jordan of the Sunday World and Julian…
Critics of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson are reportedly redoubling their efforts to undermine the deal he has struck with the Conservative government in London. Since the announcement of a deal by Sir Jeffrey in the early hours of Tuesday morning, we are finding out more and more details on a drip-feed basis. So far the choreography…
In the past few minutes my sources close to the DUP have confirmed that the deal is now done. The party is returning to Stormont. This confirms my analysis in an earlier blog post before Christmas that “talk of talks” was merely a ploy to steady those frightened horses within the party who are evangelically…
As far as long-drawn out political negotiations go, the one between the DUP and the British government must be one of the longest in Northern Ireland’s modern history. Even the bargaining between the old Stormont government under Brian Faulkner and Edward Heath regarding the rescinding of security powers in 1972 took less time to collapse…
As rumours of a General Election intensify some close to the thinking of the DUP suggest that the party is working to a post-Christmas timetable. This is highly significant, particularly in light of how far the DUP has come since it began its boycott of the power-sharing Executive in February 2022. As I revealed on…
It has become clear in recent days that the UVF Brigade Staff on the Shankill has seen its stock rise in the eyes of its grassroots supporters due to its shock statement a week ago, which saw them announcement the standing down its East Belfast leadership. I argued in an earlier blog post that there…
Since I broke the story about the UVF Brigade Staff on the Shankill standing down its East Belfast area leadership, it has become clear that the group has not produced a more comprehensive plan for what comes next. My sources in Belfast tell me that the statement was “short and sweet.” It did not mention…
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a militant loyalist group in Northern Ireland, has disbanded its notorious East Belfast unit, which has been intimately involved in drug-related crimes. This move has provoked fears of violent retaliation within working-class communities. Nevertheless, with this strategic decision by the UVF leadership, the responsibility now falls on law enforcement and intelligence agencies to mitigate potential internecine feuds, ensuring the integrity of the group’s transition process.
A loyalist source has contacted me to tell me that the East Belfast UVF have been stood down, effective from midnight tonight. The statement is believed to have been issued by the UVF Brigade Staff, the group’s central command. It was read out across different areas as members of the paramilitary group met to commemorate…
The DUP is fast running out of options on what to do about the Windsor Framework. According to a leaked Northern Ireland Office (NIO) briefing note seen by the Belfast Newsletter, some Stormont government departments could face budget cuts of up to 10%. The former Sinn Féin Finance Minister Conor Murphy told The View from…
My interview with Matt Cooper on The Last Word, concerning the death of former IRA member and suspected British spy, Freddie Scappaticci, 12 April 2023 Matt Cooper: So as I mentioned there before the break, Freddie Scappaticci, a name that really jumped into the public consciousness about 20 years ago, died recently it was announced…
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework Agreement announced earlier this week has been greeted positively in Great Britain. In Northern Ireland, however, feelings have been mixed. Senior DUP politician Ian Paisley Jnr said it did not go far enough in restoring British sovereignty in Northern Ireland nor the Province’s place within the United Kingdom internal…
One of the best placed British agents inside the Provisional Republican Movement is dead. Willie Carlin died of complications arising from a Covid-19 infection on Monday 6th February. He is survived by his wife and child from a second marriage. I first met Willie in 2018 when I interviewed him for my critically acclaimed book,…
“To some commentators this may feel like run-of-the mill DUP rhetoric. However, a source close to DUP thinking informed me at the beginning of this week that there is a developing view within the party’s hierarchy that the Protocol must be resisted more decisively.”
“Agents of Influence is a genuine attempt to put historical evidence into the public arena so as to inform the debate over the steps an ancient liberal democracy has taken in order to meet the threat posed by a toxic strain of violent extremism.”
“I had always been interested in the security dimension of the Troubles, which played like a noisy soundtrack to my research and writing.”