Overview

On the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Peter Taylor tells for the first time the gripping story of Operation Chiffon, the top-secret intelligence operation that helped bring peace to Ireland. ‘A gripping exploration of how MI5 and MI6 worked for a ceasefire with the IRA – and how one meeting changed everything’ Telegraph 'An extraordinary story . . . A true tale of espionage' The Times April 1998: the Good Friday Agreement is signed, ending decades of violence and bloodshed in Northern Ireland. The process of getting the IRA to end its so-called ‘armed struggle’ was always the prerequisite of the search for peace. It was Operation Chiffon that finally helped make it possible. Operation Chiffon takes us inside the top-secret intelligence operation whose roots go back to the bloodiest years of the conflict in the early 1970s, involving officers from MI6 and, later in the 1990s, MI5. The remarkable story, which has remained hidden for forty years, is now revealed by legendary BBC journalist Peter Taylor with unique access to the officers involved. Drawing on exclusive interviews and Taylor’s fifty years of covering the conflict, the book narrates in first-hand detail how those involved risked their careers – and their lives – to help secure the fragile peace that exists today. Taylor vividly brings this covert operation to life and in the process chronicles the history of Sinn Féin, rising from obscurity in the early days of the Troubles to becoming the largest political party in Ireland today. It is a story fraught with uncertainty and danger that, as Brexit risks destabilising what was achieved in the Good Friday Agreement twenty-five years ago, is more important than ever to remember.

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9781526659637

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Reviews

Only a journalist of Taylor's standing could have persuaded people from all sides in the conflict to cooperate in such a manner. The result was a first-rate piece of journalism. It was also first-rate history * Guardian on 'Provos', 'Loyalists' and 'Brits' * If you long for honesty, reason and reflection amongst the firestorm of today's news, you will find it here. Taylor walks in the steps of Richard Dimbleby, Frank Gillard, Rene Cutforth and James Cameron, a reporter who can face human horror and help us comprehend it * Gillian Reynolds on Peter Taylor * If you were drawing up a list of TV grandees, you might scrawl down David Attenborough's name alongside that of Trevor McDonald . . . There's also an argument to place in their company Peter Taylor . . . To report on the region since 1972 and have all sides still talking to you with trust and respect - be they Green, Orange or even shadowy MI6 men - is quite an achievement. As perhaps is the fact he is still breathing * The Times on Peter Taylor *

Author Information

Peter Taylor is acknowledged to be one of the BBC’s most distinguished and respected journalists, best known for his coverage of the Irish conflict and political violence over the past 50 years. He has won many awards for his work including Journalist of the Year, the James Cameron Award and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both BAFTA and the Royal Television Society. He was also presented with an OBE and an Honorary Doctorate in Peace and Security Studies from Bradford University. Peter has written nine books, eight of them related to Northern Ireland, terrorism and political violence. His Bloomsbury trilogy, Provos, Loyalists and Brits is recognised to be a definitive history of the conflict. Operation Chiffon now completes the picture and makes the trilogy a unique quartet.

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