ON December 14 1921, just days after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Lord Edward Carson of Duncairn gave his maiden speech to the House of Lords, having been elevated there the previous May, claiming: “What a fool I was! I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.”

Many cite this quotation as evidence that Carson was opposed to partition and only realised, when it was too late, that he had been deceived all along by the Tories in dividing the island of Ireland.

By reading his entire speech that day – an extremely bitter one even by Carson’s standards – it is clear he was not criticising the Tories for partitioning Ireland. He was criticising them for “surrendering” to Sinn Féin, by conceding too much to republicans in offering dominion status.

Throughout the speech he continuously referred to Sinn Féin as a “murder gang” and Michael Collins as its head. He was disgusted that Britain had abandoned “Ireland at the very heart of the Empire to independence, with an army, with a navy, with separate customs, with ministers at foreign courts, and delegates to the League of Nations, where they can vote against you”.

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