Once a committed anti-apartheid activist, Peter Hain has moved into the establishment. How far can he push the North's politicians, and how far can he go himself, asks Deaglán de Bréadún
Politicians have time on their hands in opposition and, in 1995, two years before New Labour surged to power, Peter Hain wrote an international political thriller called The Peking Connection. The central character is Jim Evans, a British scientist who visits China as part of a delegation and gets involved in exposing a worldwide nuclear conspiracy. Unfortunately the book didn't go down well with the left-of-centre New Statesman, where a critic dismissed it as "dreadful" and a form of "literary Valium".
Oh dear: there's nobody worse than your own. And yet few could have a more appropriate background for writing a thriller than Peter Hain, whose own life reads like a Robert Ludlum plotline, especially the early years. Born in Kenya on February 16th, 1950, he grew up in South Africa where both parents were activists in the South African Liberal Party and brought the wrath of the apartheid regime down on their heads.
Driven out of South Africa, the family settled in London, where his father Walter Hain pursued his profession as an architect. Isolating the sports-mad Afrikaaners was a top priority for anti-apartheid activists and young Peter led the direct-action campaign to prevent the all-white South African rugby and cricket teams from playing in Britain. Rightwingers dubbed him "Hain the Pain" and broke open the champagne when he was convicted of criminal conspiracy and fined £200 in 1972 after a 10-day trial at the Old Bailey.
Much more seriously, Hain was tried and acquitted in 1976 on a charge of stealing £490 from a branch of Barclays bank the previous October. At the time he was president of the Young Liberals and he claimed afterwards there was a strong possibility South African agents had used a "double" in an attempt to frame him for the theft. He wrote a book about the ordeal, entitled A Putney Plot? which explored the possibility that the South Africans were working with a section of MI5 as part of a wider conspiracy to undermine the then Labour government of Harold Wilson and shift Britain far to the right.
The following year, Hain made one of his better political career-moves when he left the Liberals and joined the Labour party. He won a seat in the House of Commons in a by-election in the south Wales constituency of Neath in 1991. Four years later he became a Labour whip and in 1996 was appointed shadow employment minister. Labour's 1997 victory saw him join the Welsh office and then become minister for Africa at the foreign and commonwealth office.
Africa had changed and so had Peter Hain. Zimbabwe ruler Robert Mugabe was a hero in Hain's novel and both men had been on the same side in the struggle against white supremacy, but now Mugabe attacked Hain as the worst of all in Tony Blair's "gangster regime of little men".
After a detour at the department of trade and industry, Hain returned to the foreign office as minister for Europe. Irish representatives who worked with him in the Convention on the Future of Europe say they were "impressed" by his ability to present the British case to such an unenthusiastic audience: "He did it very effectively." They also commend his "charm and good humour" as well as his "networking" skills. Hain hardly put a foot wrong although there was a clear impression he was closer to Tony Blair than Gordon Brown.
He became secretary of state for Wales in October 2002, holding that role even when, in June 2003, he became leader of the House of Commons and lord privy seal.
On May 6th, 2005, a post-general election re-shuffle saw Hain appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, even though he held on to his Welsh position. In his Belfast role he has worked closely with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern. The Louthman does not suffer fools gladly, but Hain and himself have hit it off remarkably well, by all accounts, mirroring the excellent relationship that exists between Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern.
IT'S A TRICKY moment in Northern Ireland and British-Irish politics and the slightest false move could bring the delicate structure of the peace process crashing down. Hain was to the fore after the St Andrews summit, hailing the new agreement as an "astonishing breakthrough" and "a pivotal moment in Irish history". This was over the top, given the fractious world of Northern Ireland politics and, sure enough, within days the Democratic Unionist Party had precipitated the postponement of a critical meeting in a row over Sinn Féin's commitment to recognising the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Hain was the latest to learn the very basic Ulster lesson that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed". Or perhaps that should be "nothing is nailed down until everyone is nailed down". Given that so much of the peace process is conducted at prime ministerial level, it's not always easy for the Northern Ireland secretary to hold his or her own, but Hain has won considerable admiration for the manner in which he asserted himself and refused to be sidelined as key players sought to conduct a one-to-one dialogue with Downing Street. "Hain demanded to be a player and wouldn't get out of the room," says one highly respected observer. He also detected Ian Paisley's willingness to cut a deal long before most other students of political form in the North.
Hain has also been lucky that the two main parties are in compromise mode, but there's many a slip and the internal tensions of the DUP in particular could torpedo the whole thing yet. Still, there is more hope in the air than there has been seen since, probably, the original Good Friday euphoria in April 1998.
THE STAKES ARE high for Northern Ireland but also for Hain personally. On September 12th last, he announced his candidacy for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party (the current deputy leader, John Prescott, is expected to resign with Tony Blair in 2007).Though seen as an outsider, Hain's chances could significantly improve if the St Andrews deal sticks. In the meantime he is making all the right noises, telling the Daily Telegraph recently: "When I see people picketing me or protesting, there's a bit of me out there. I understand why they're doing it - but they need people like me, inside the system, who are prepared to listen."
In fact, he has been so busy campaigning that the wags say he "spends more time with the unions than the Unionists".
Napoleon Bonaparte once said he would "rather have a general who was lucky than one who was good". Hain is widely regarded as a good general but the coming weeks and months will show whether or not he is a lucky one.
Deaglán de Bréadún is the Foreign Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times
ThePeterHainFile
Who is he?
Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary
Why is he in the news?
He's a central figure in the latest moves for peace
Most appealing characteristic?
Long record as idealistic campaigner against South African apartheid in his younger days
Least appealing characteristic?
Very ambitious: yon Peter has a mean and hungry look
Most likely to say?
"Let's grasp this chance for a major breakthrough with both hands"
Least likely to say?
"We're wasting our time, the game's not worth the bloody candle"