Jonathan Powell

Clinton: “Keep the cranes up. Keep the voices free. Keep the votes fair. You’ll figure it out.” #GFA20

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 10, 2018, 5:31 pm | Readers 1354

Political leaders of old and today gathered at Queen’s University, Belfast for a day of events focussed on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that people “should realise that this agreement was never going to support all the problems of Northern Ireland” while former US President Bill Clinton had a triptych of advice for NI: “Keep the cranes up. Keep the voices free. Keep the votes fair. You’ll figure it out.”

Catch up on the Mount Stewart Conversations: diplomacy and Europe, then and now

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 19, 2016, 10:40 am | Readers 675

MOUNT STEWART CONVERSATIONS – a weekend of ideas, debate and stories looking at relationships with Europe from Lord Castlereagh’s involvement in the Congress of Venice right through to Brexit and the kind of diplomacy that will be required in years to come. Throw in live music, food, and the gorgeous National Trust gardens and walks, you can see how country houses used to transact a lot of political business away from the cities and parliaments!

Jonathan Powell on Brexit, borders, the LCC, peace … and appearing this weekend at Mount Stewart Conversations

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 14, 2016, 6:17 pm | Readers 938

INTERVIEW with Jonathan Powell ahead of his appearance at National Trust’s Mount Stewart Conversations this weekend on a panel with Fintan O’Toole and others discussing “Can the Kingdom Stay United after Brexit?”

#BelFest Jonathan Powell: “terrorists are often better negotiators than governments”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 19, 2014, 12:44 am | Readers 965

Jonathan Powell was Tony Blair’s chief of staff. When it came to the peace process he rolled up his own sleeves in 1997 and flew across incognito to Belfast and made his way up to Derry to meet Martin McGuinness face-to-face having been driven round the city in a taxi for an hour. He continued to meet Sinn Fein in low profile locations for the next ten years in addition to more formal and public engagements. The political negotiator and …

“Just to confuse matters, some elements of the tale of the On The Runs appear to have been hidden in plain sight.”

Pete Baker on March 1, 2014, 4:26 pm | Readers 157

BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport with, perhaps, the best description of the mechanism used to address the issue of on-the-runs. From Mark Devenport’s BBC blog While republicans insist unionists knew all about what was happening to the On The Runs, that is not strictly true. Senior PSNI officers answered some questions posed by Northern Ireland Policing Board members and the scheme got a glancing reference in the voluminous Eames-Bradley report on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. But when former …

“But today, identity seems more central to politics than ever before.”

Pete Baker on November 22, 2012, 5:17 pm | Readers 48

Brian’s noting of the advice from Richard Haass to the Israeli government reminded me that there are other places, and administrations, who have received similar ‘lessons’ from The Process™ here. Afghanistan, for example. Of course, it always helps to have well-placed friends [writing your speeches! – Ed]. And it’s worth noting that Richard Haass’ role here was not without criticism… His successor, Mitchel Reiss, has been more forthright in his recounting at times. ANYhoo… There’s also Iraq. Where the BBC now reports Almost every …

“There are sometimes occasions when frank disagreements arise between states…”

Pete Baker on October 17, 2011, 11:20 pm | Readers 16

After meeting with the Finucane family to discuss the UK government’s decision “to conduct an independent review to produce a full public account of any state involvement in the murder”, rather than open an inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act, UTV reports Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore’s comments Speaking after a meeting with the Finucane family on Monday afternoon he said: “There are sometimes occasions when frank disagreements arise between states. “This is one on this occasion.” …… Mr …

“One wonders whether Powell fully understands how revelatory his account really is…”

Mick Fealty on June 24, 2008, 8:06 pm | Readers 71

Mitchell Reiss comes to Jonathan Powell’s magnum opus on the peace process under the Blair regimine a little later than some others, but given he was a key player in the Bush administration for latter years of the process, he is, as one might expect, a good deal more critical that some the earlier entrants in the debate. Although there are echoes of Mandelson’s: “the Process is the bare minimum of the policy you need…” He doesn’t pull many punches. …

Undercover Diplomat – “addicted to negotiations”

Pete Baker on April 13, 2008, 10:24 pm | Readers 23

Jonathan Powell’s surprisingly interesting TV version of his diary, the hour long The Undercover Diplomat, is still available on the BBC’s iPlayer – but not for long. But, courtesy of Typhoo, I can post a few clips of interest. The first one is Powell’s record of hearing about the Northern Bank robbery in 2004 whilst on his way to a meeting with Adams and McGuinness – and subsequent events. Pete Baker