ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that the ‘Irish Question’ was generally accorded low saliency by the Labour Party until the emergence of ‘the troubles’ during the latter half of the 1960s (Morgan, 1984: 200), for although Labour had originally been in favour of ‘home rule all round’, the issue was certainly not ascribed much importance, given the party’s primary goal of securing parliamentary representation in order to advance the material interests of the organised working class. Indeed, as Jones and Keating (1985: 170) noted, the Labour Party’s formal, yet unenthusiastic, support for home rule owed much to its concern to remove the Irish Question from the agenda, lest it served to divide the labour movement in England, Scotland and Wales, whilst also hindering Labour’s commitment to change through peaceful, constitutional channels.
