PETER Robinson and Martin McGuinness privately agreed with Peter Hain that the Attorney General’s prosecution against him would lead to ridicule, the former Secretary of State has claimed.
Mr Hain faced contempt of court proceedings brought by Attorney General John Larkin earlier this year after publishing in his memoirs a fierce assault on Lord Justice Girvan.
The controversial case was eventually settled before trial after Mr Hain agreed to publish a footnote in future editions of the book clarifying that he was not questioning the judge’s motivation.
In a three-page ‘afterword’ included with the book’s paperback edition, Mr Hain says that it was apparent two days after his book was published in hardback in January that it had “stirred up some of the Northern Ireland judiciary”.
He said that the Lord Chief Justice had “thundered” about his attack on Lord Justice Girvan, saying that it had been “an assault on the wider independence of the judiciary”, something the Labour MP described as “bemusing and astonishing”.
Mr Hain said that he was soon in receipt of “fulminating” correspondence from the Attorney General.
Sinn Fein was largely silent about the controversial case.
Several senior DUP figures spoke out strongly against the prosecution, but Mr Robinson — who along with Mr McGuinness appoint the statutorily independent Attorney General — did not comment publicly.
However, in his book, which is to be republished next month, Mr Hain says: “Concerned that this storm in a teacup would lead to the Northern Ireland judiciary being widely ridiculed, I spoke privately to both the First Minister, Peter Robinson, and the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness... They were equally concerned, instantly seeing how the fledgling devolved judiciary could be brought into disrepute by a dubious adventure against a former Secretary of State when its primary function was to enforce the rule of law and deal with crime and terrorism.
“Both Ian Dale, managing director of Biteback Publishing, and I were insistent we would not withdraw the offending passage or, as was even demanded at one point, the book itself.”
Later in the book, he added: “In that case, would some reassuring words suffice to end this madness, Peter Robinson wondered? This was a suggestion with which I was happy to comply.
“But an informal approach initiated by Peter’s office brought an uncompromising response — the Attorney General was not for moving.”
He then tells how an unnamed person, whom he trusted from his time in Northern Ireland, phoned and set in train the process which led to a compromise, as reported earlier this week.