SDLP leader John Hume “demonstrated no affection” for incoming taoiseach Charles Haughey at a meeting with British ministers in early 1982, according to an official record of the meeting released in Belfast.
Hume felt that Haughey might be ousted in favour of Desmond OMalley, the note added.
The meeting between Hume and the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Jim Prior, and his deputy, Lord Gowrie, took place on February 24th, 1982.
The British were keen to ensure the SDLP took part in elections later in the year for a new Northern Ireland Assembly to be set up under Prior’s “rolling devolution” proposals.
According to the official record compiled by Stephen Boys Smith of the Northern Ireland Office, the SDLP leader “was not fundamentally interested in involving himself in a devolved administration, or at least one which falls short of full-scale power-sharing”.
Prior formed the impression, however, that the SDLP would take part in the elections. “He thought Mr Hume had been cheered by the relatively poor performance of Provisional Sinn Féin in the [recent] Irish general election and had concluded that the SDLP might do better in Northern Ireland than had been expected”.
The note said Hume had confided to Prior and Gowrie during discussions that there was a good chance O’Malley would succeed Haughey as leader of Fianna Fáil.
Boys Smith added: “He expressed no particular preference between Mr O’Malley and Dr FitzGerald but demonstrated no affection for Mr Haughey.”
At the meeting the SDLP leader reported rumours in Dublin of an IRA ceasefire, which he felt was “no doubt in order to put the British government on the spot”.
For their part, the British dismissed the suggestion as a rumour.
In a note from Stormont House on February 26th, 1982, an official wrote: “This sort of speculation is fuelled from various quarters . . . Wives of prisoners in the Maze are said to be calling on PIRA to end their terrorist campaign and to work for an amnesty instead.”