Irish News, November 4, 2003
Tony Blair has described the retention in the British army of the convicted murderers of a Belfast teenager as an "internal employment matter" in a letter to SDLP leader Mark Durkan.
The prime minister was responding to criticism from Mr Durkan over the army's failure to discharge Scots Guardsmen James Fisher and Mark Wright while sacking an officer who cheated on a television gameshow.
The soldiers were admitted back into the army after serving a jail sentence for the murder of 18-year-old Peter McBride in 1992.
Mr Durkan contrasted this treatment to a decision to discharge Major Charles Ingram after he was found guilty of cheating on the ITV programme Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
"The message sent is clear. Whereas the British army takes cheating on a gameshow seriously, the same is not true of murdering Northern Ireland civilians," Mr Durkan said in a letter to Mr Blair.
The SDLP leader further pointed to a ruling by the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal declaring that the army had been wrong to allow Wright and Fisher to remain as soldiers "because of the exceptional circumstances" surrounding Mr McBride's death.
The appeal judges did not formally recommend the discharge of the officers.
However, Mr Durkan criticised the failure of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to take any action following the judgment.
"It is outrageous for a public authority to ignore a court declaration of illegality in this way," he said.
In response, in a letter seen by the Irish News, Mr Blair said the MoD and army authorities would "take into account the full implication of the judges' serious concerns in the handling of future retention cases".
He went on to say: "In your letter you also seek to draw a parallel between the army's handling of the Fisher and Wright case and the case of the major who was convicted of fraud following an appearance on a television gameshow.
"Both cases were internal employment matters for the army and both were dealt with in accordance with the appropriate procedure, but the details, context and circumstances of each are not comparable."
Speaking after a meeting with the McBride family on Saturday, Mr Durkan accused the prime minister of being "evasive" over the issue.
"Tony Blair argues that the cases are not comparable. That is true. Murder on the streets of Belfast is much worse. So why is cheating on a TV programme taken more seriously?" he said.
"Nor is it tenable for Tony Blair to pretend that this is simply an internal employment matter. It is a matter of grave public concern and basic human rights."