Son of Ulster – Brian Maye on Basil Brooke, the longest-serving prime minister of Northern Ireland

Basil Brooke, who died 50 years ago on August 18th, was the longest-serving prime minister of Northern Ireland and his unbroken 30-year period in cabinet is a record still unsurpassed at either Westminster or Stormont. Such was his standing in the unionist community that if he had sought to introduce much-needed reforms, they would most likely have been accepted without major loyalist opposition, and the tragedy of “the Troubles” might have been avoided.

He was born on June 9th, 1888, at Colebrooke Park, the family estate in Co Fermanagh, the eldest of five children of Sir Arthur Brooke and Gertrude Batson of Cambridgeshire. His background and upbringing influenced him greatly. His ancestors came to Fermanagh in the 17th century and there was a long family tradition of military service; 53 family members served in the two World Wars. There was also a strong family tradition of political activity.

Following private schooling in France, he attended Winchester College, followed by Sandhurst. Serving in India and South Africa before the first World War, he identified strongly with the fierce unionist opposition to Home Rule, helping to establish the Ulster Volunteer Force in Fermanagh and offering to resign his commission in March 1914 to return to help organise loyalism in Ulster.

Brooke served with distinction in the Great War, being awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre. His war experience affected him deeply, causing him to lose his religious faith. He returned to Fermanagh in late 1918 and the following June married Cynthia Warden Sergison of Sussex. They had three sons; the eldest and youngest were killed in the second World War.

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It was a politically turbulent period in Ireland from 1919 to 1922. Brooke organised military opposition to the IRA campaign and became Fermanagh County Commandant of the Ulster Special Constabulary.

His prominence in unionist political circles was recognised by Northern Ireland’s first prime minister, Sir James Craig, who awarded him a CBE and appointed him to the new senate. In 1929, he became MP for Fermanagh at Stormont and was to serve there for nearly 40 years.

At first he appeared a moderate but on July 12th, 1933, gave an infamously sectarian speech advising his listeners to employ only Protestants, as Catholics were determined to destroy Northern Ireland, and warning that southern nationalists were scheming to infiltrate the region and undermine its pro-union majority. Brian Barton, who wrote the entry on him in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, ascribed the timing of these comments to the tense political context in which they were made: Fianna Fáil had just come to power in Dublin and the Eucharistic Congress, a showpiece for Catholic and nationalist pride, had caused widespread unease among northern unionists. In addition, the worldwide economic recession of the time was causing internal divisions in the unionist party and Brooke was personally disillusioned with the continued nationalist refusal to recognise the northern state.

Barton contrasted the comments with Brooke’s open-minded attitude to political opponents, both as an employer and politician, and pointed out that he was even willing to accept Irish unity in mid-1940 if Ireland would abandon neutrality.

Proving a successful minister for agriculture in the 1930s, his reputation was further enhanced when as minister for commerce he raised productivity levels and reduced unemployment during the war, and his party chose him as prime minister in May 1943. Northern Ireland’s vital role for the Allies during the war strengthened its popularity with the British government. Brooke welcomed the new British postwar welfare measures as they made his government more popular with the Protestant working class and when Ireland left the Commonwealth in 1949, Northern Ireland’s constitutional position in the UK was guaranteed by the British government.

While the Republic was isolated and economically stagnant in the 1950s, Northern Ireland fared much better, so much so that some sections of confident unionism proposed reforms to try to reconcile nationalists to the status quo but gerrymandering and religious discrimination continued and Brooke’s concern to maintain party unity meant the necessary, far-reaching reforms weren’t introduced at Stormont.

“By his failure to act at such an opportune moment, Brooke helped to perpetuate Northern Ireland’s endemic, and ultimately fatal, sectarian divisions. It is difficult not to conclude that he lacked that higher quality of leadership that does not simply reflect and pander to its supporters but dares to challenge and dispel their prejudices,” was Brian Barton’s verdict on the great missed opportunity of Brooke’s premiership.

Age, poor health and increasing backbench criticism of his failure to deal with increasing unemployment and loss of party support caused him to resign reluctantly as prime minister in March 1963 but he retained his seat until 1968.

His wife died in 1970 and the following year he married Sarah Eileen Bell. Following his death, his remains were cremated at Roselawn Cemetery, Belfast, and, following his wishes, his ashes were scattered on his estate.