John Major
Person
Born
Major's government kept a secret line of communication open with the IRA leadership even after the 1991 mortar attack on Downing Street, and he co-signed the 1993 Downing Street Declaration with Albert Reynolds. His later insistence on decommissioning before Sinn Féin entered talks, while relying on Ulster Unionist votes at Westminster, slowed progress and the IRA ended its first ceasefire with the Canary Wharf bomb in 1996. Much of the 1998 framework was in place before he left office.
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