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 O’Neill of the BBC, confirming the next day that the move had indeed happened.
Others, who shall remain nameless, pooh-poohed my breaking story and seemed to take such a bout of sour grapes that they tracked down their own source/s who roundly denied it had happened or denied that it had happened in that way. One narrative put out was that those leaders stood down had been ‘semi-retired’ anyway! One commentator even went further to make the claim that I had mistakenly reported the news after reading a WhatsApp message!
The truth is that that didn’t happen.
I did not receive the news in a WhatsApp message. In fact, I did not receive the badly worded WhatsApp message in question until the next day, which is probably when the same journalist received it!
No, the truth is that I received the news directly from a long-standing and trusted source who had heard the UVF Brigade Staff’s statement read out and confirmed what they had said. I knew exactly where it had been read out and that it had been read out in different areas.
There was no doubt in my mind that this information was being given to me because, as someone who has been perceived as somewhat sceptical of loyalist ‘transition’, there is no-one better to hand a story like that to than someone who was once regarded as a ‘critical friend’ but who may be thought of today as more critical and less friendly.
Few people could have avoided my intervention in my in-person evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee a few weeks earlier on 18 October or the surrounding media attention it attracted.
Nor could the UVF either.
Although I cannot reveal how I know this information was given to me in the way it was, I can say that I had met with a representative of one community funding stream and they made clear to me that some good work was being done by loyalist paramilitaries. Combined with the news of a transition, the standing down of the East Belfast UVF leadership did not come as a complete surprise.
Some weeks ago, tensions again flared as those who had been stood down went ahead with a commemorative event for two UVF members who had been killed in the Troubles. The UVF’s associates in the Central ACT charity, which is dedicated to ensuring the group transitions towards civilianisation, issued a statement distancing itself from the event. By some accounts only 200-300 people turned up to the event, which included hangers on. By my estimate that is around 10% or less of the East Belfast UVF battalion strength in the East Belfast/North Down area. It suggests that they are isolated.
I received information at the time that they were told in no uncertain terms that the UVF Brigade Staff would not tolerate dissent. They were also warned, according to one of my sources, that they risked escalating the situation if they did. As I have written and spoken about repeatedly over the years, loyalism has a long history of violent responses to internal dissent. That does not mean it will happen in this case but we should be wary about accepting one-dimensional narratives fed through the media about the exact nature of the situation.
It would seem that investigative reporters at the award-winning BBC Spotlight programme have taken a similar view. The programme looks at what exactly has transpired inside the UVF since 12 November 2023 and what this means for the UVF almost 30 years on from the paramilitary ceasefires. As someone who has been watching the UVF intimately over these years, this is especially welcome.
Independent journalism – particularly investigative journalism – that cross-checks multiple sources, rather than simply depending on one source with an agenda, is what is required in societies undergoing transition from conflict to peace.
I have watched the Spotlight programme with interest, particularly since receiving these photos this morning.
It would seem that even though some associates of the stood down UVF leadership in East Belfast deny they are still in a position of influence or authority, pictures paint a thousand words.
