Member

If we want to talk about rewriting the past, as far as I am concerned what we say should apply right across the board. I do not want anybody in Northern Ireland to think that terrorism was ever an alternative at any stage. But I also do not want anyone to think—as they probably would more here, across the water—that it was acceptable for anyone who wore a uniform to think that the state would back all their actions in perpetuity, without stopping to ask whether they were legal. That implies another point. The caution around veterans almost implies that every single one of them at some stage acted illegally or wrongly. I just do not think that is the case. I know many of them—many of them are related to me. Many of them are very close to me and, believe you me, they did not break the law as part of an ongoing plan—it simply did not happen—but we would also be wrong to say that it never happened.