No More Lawfare Against Op Banner Veterans
Minister refuses to say government will not put yesterday’s gunmen on committees investigating veterans.
On Times Radio today (10/5/25), the UK Minister for Veterans, Louise Sandher-Jones, was asked a simple question: Should former IRA members be allowed to sit on a body involved in investigating Operation Banner cases?
She would not rule it out.
Pressed repeatedly, she spoke about “victims and survivors” being represented, and about the need to “move forward,” but she never gave a clear “no” to IRA members on such a panel.
The hosts concluded, fairly, that government “can’t guarantee that members of the IRA won’t be on that committee.”
That crosses a line.
Why this matters
· Moral equivalence is unacceptable. There is no equivalence between terrorists who set out to murder and maim and soldiers and police who served under orders within the law as it stood. The Minister said there is “no equivalent,” yet refused to exclude IRA members from a panel that would sit in judgment over those who served. That inconsistency undermines trust.
· Victims deserve justice — without empowering perpetrators. Involving former members of proscribed organisations in any official capacity relating to investigations invites the very people who waged a campaign of terror to influence the process. That is an insult to the bereaved and to those who stood between violence and the public.
· Lawfare must stop. We’ve seen a steady drift toward re-litigating historical incidents where evidence is cold, memories are contested, and standards are applied retrospectively. Opening the door to partisan infiltration will only multiply that injustice and prolong division.
“Having a Veterans Minister who will not disavow the notion that former IRA terrorists could sit on a committee connected to investigations of the army in Northern Ireland shows utter contempt for those who served during Operation Banner,” says Dr Bob Parr MBE AKC, Visiting Research Fellow, at the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, University of Oxford, and former SAS Regiment during Op BANNER.
“It strikes me from her words, Louise Sandher-Jones thinks she’s representing veterans of the IRA as much as she’s representing veterans of the Crown. What she is doing in this interview is fundamentally drawing a moral equivalence between murdering terrorists and heroes of the nation. This plays directly into how Sinn Féin/IRA would like to rewrite history.
“This is another example of how utterly out of touch she is with veterans. On top of her claim during a Westminster debate that those expressing concerns for veterans are “naive people or ill-informed”, really makes this issue that calls for her to resign.”
David Maddan, former Grenadier Guards and Sqn Cmdr 22 SAS (Brig) (1994–96), added: “For the Legacy Commission to have any credibility, it has got to be regarded as impartial by all sides. Having IRA terrorists sitting on it as members completely destroys any sense of impartiality and reveals this whole process as the charade it is, cravenly conceding at every turn to the Republican agenda. For anyone in the UK government to entertain such a thing for a moment shows how hopelessly naive they are and how easily they are having rings run round them.”
What is needed
A clear statutory bar on anyone with a history of membership in terrorist organisations (including the IRA and its splinters) from serving on any committee, panel, or advisory group connected to legacy investigations. The Minister’s refusal to say “no” is not good enough; the law must say it for her.
A firm presumption against prosecution of Op Banner veterans for historic incidents already examined, unless genuinely new and compelling evidence—meeting a high, objective threshold—emerges.
An absolute ban on ‘victim-status’ loopholes being used by former terrorists to gain a seat at the table. “Victim” language must not be twisted to smuggle perpetrators into governance of investigations. The interview explicitly raised that risk; the Minister did not shut it down.
Meaningful, not cosmetic, protections for veterans: anonymity as default where appropriate, no compulsion to travel to Northern Ireland for inquiries, and strict time limits that prevent endless re-opening of settled matters. The Minister mentioned “protections”—they must be real, binding, and immediate.
The principle at stake
A nation that asks men and women to serve must defend them in the years that follow. The Government cannot allow a process that blurs the moral and legal line between those who wore a uniform under lawful authority and those who planted bombs in pubs and on high streets.
To do so would be a betrayal — not just of veterans, but of every citizen who relied on them.
Our veterans deserve certainty, not platitudes.
Draw a hard line now: no former terrorists on legacy panels; no more lawfare against those who served.
I'm gobsmacked allowing Ex IRA to be on a panel judging Vetrans of the policing action in Northern Irland is unbelievable!
Stupidly in action
No body should serve this country as the country showes no Respect for the troops who put their lives on the line!
Gives pensions to killers and persecutes and betrayes the men who performed their duties with their hands tied behind their backs!
Outrageous!! When will this persecution end? How different our politicians would behave when they want to send the armed forces - what’s left of them - to war, and they demand ‘letters of comfort’ before they leave the barracks