Karen Bradley facing continued resignation calls despite apology

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/07/karen-bradley-northern-ireland-troubles-urged-apologise-richard-dannatt

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The embattled Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley is facing growing pressure to quit after a former police ombudsman in the region said her comments over deaths at the hands of soldiers during the Troubles showed “a complete disregard for the operation of the rule of law”.

Dame Nuala O’Loan said she had never before publicly called for anyone’s resignation, but said Bradley should be fired if she refused to quit.

Bradley was forced into a humiliating apology on Thursday for saying that deaths caused by police and soldiers during the Troubles were “not crimes”. Relatives of civilians killed said it was “too little too late” while Northern Ireland’s first police ombudsman said her remarks demonstrated such ignorance of history that she had no credible future as secretary of state.

They also accused Bradley of trying to interfere with a decision, expected next week, on whether to prosecute soldiers involved in the killing of 14 civilians on Bloody Sunday in 1972.

O’Loan said her remarks showed “a mindset which is incompatible with the office of secretary of state” and if she did not quit Theresa May should fire her. She added: “She doesn’t understand the history of Northern Ireland … the extent to which police officers and members of the military were involved in crime and have been convicted of crime.”

May’s spokeswoman defended Bradley, praising her work such as maintaining public services amid the suspension of the Stormont executive.

The spokeswoman said: “She has acknowledged the language she used was wrong and apologised for the offence that it caused. She has a strong track record in her post.”Bradley’s comments also threatened the delicate balance of Anglo-Irish relations, already strained by the Brexit crisis.

The Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said her comments were “wrong” given the ongoing search for answers from some victims’ families, while his deputy, Simon Coveney, who met Bradley in London on Wednesday night, said “the timing couldn’t be worse”.

Tony Lloyd, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said O’Loan’s comments showed that Bradley no longer had the credibility she needs to stay in her job.

“This was not just a gaffe and Bradley did not simply ‘misspeak’. What she said reflected a disturbing pattern, with her and the prime minister having made a succession of baseless claims about military personnel being treated unfairly compared to others,” he said. “If Theresa May can’t find a replacement, they must finally tell us what the government is going to do with Northern Irish legacy cases.”

The controversy erupted after Bradley told the House of Commons on Wednesday that soldiers and police involved in killings were “people acting under orders and instructions, fulfilling their duties in a dignified and appropriate way”.

She said that “over 90% of the killings during the Troubles were at the hands of terrorists” and that “the under 10% that were at the hands of the military and police were not crimes”.

Bradley appeared to realise her mistake on Wednesday, but critics say her failure to apologise immediately showed she was not fit for the post.

On Thursday she admitted she was “profoundly sorry for the offence and hurt that my words have caused”.

She added: “The language was wrong and, even though this was not my intention, it was deeply insensitive to many of those who lost loved ones.”

John Kelly, whose teenage brother, Michael, was killed on Bloody Sunday, said: “I feel very angry about what Karen Bradley said. Her credibility has gone now, especially within the nationalist community who lost loved ones.

“Her position is now untenable. Other families are very annoyed. She did this without thinking about the hurt she was creating. She must have known the question before she opened her mouth. There’s no way we can deal with her in the future. She is damaged goods, there is no point in her staying any longer and she should go.”

Kelly also accused her of trying to influence next week’s decision.

John Teggart, whose father Daniel was killed by soldiers in the Ballymurphy massacre in 1971, told reporters that Bradley had “caused deep hurt”.

Speaking in front of other relatives of the victims, he said: “She insulted the families yesterday. She spoke of how she felt, she wasn’t reading from a script when she said the crimes in Ballymurphy were not crimes. Her apology is too little, too late.”

This is the second time Bradley, a May loyalist, has been criticised over a lack of knowledge about the history of Northern Ireland.

Last September, she came under fire after she said she was unaware that nationalists did not vote for unionists and that unionists did not vote for nationalists – a widely known feature of Northern Ireland politics.