Kris Hopkins: A soldier politician's journey from terror to forgiveness

I REITERATE my support for the Prime Minister's apology when Lord Saville's report into Bloody Sunday was published. At the time, I said that it was difficult for me, as an ex-soldier, to hear the words that were said and their context.

I watched the television that evening and I was shocked – it had quite an impact on me – by the response from the crowds in Londonderry, the huge relief that they felt and the applause that they gave the Prime Minister for his stance. That reinforced my view that the Prime Minister had made the right decision.

As a former soldier, I was one of the 250,000, but rather than being a gallant officer, I was a private. I have never been to Londonderry, but my views and opinions have been formed by the experiences that I went through. The IRA tried to shoot me on the New Lodge road, and tried to blow me up in a 16-round mortar attack in Bessbrook. That fossilised my view of the organisation.

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I stood on a cordon in Newry when the bodies of those who were shot in Gibraltar were brought through from the south, and saw the huge response from the town. In the days following that, Milltown cemetery was attacked by a lunatic throwing grenades and shooting members of the congregation who were trying to bury their loved ones. That had a massive impact on me and my colleagues, as well as on the people and communities there. In the days after that, I was about to go on patrol when I saw what I discovered later to be two young corporals being dragged from their car.

Later, I saw a video of them being executed on the ground in Springfield Road. That was grossly horrific to watch.

We have talked about soldiers and some of the ways of interpreting what they did. I was out on patrol with a group of colleagues when we came across a Catholic fireman who had been shot in the head, chest and arm. We tried to save his life, but we failed. His only sin was to be a Catholic in a taxi in a Protestant area. We saw it as our job to try to save him; it was not a bolt-on.

Two members of my unit committed suicide while they were over there, and one lad lost his leg. My regiment, and those before and after, served with great honour and courage. I have worked with the Parachute Regiment, which is fantastic. It consists of men of great honour and courage, and goes back a long time. I had the privilege, as leader of Bradford Council, of offering the 4th Battalion the freedom of the city just six months ago. It is a privilege to be in their presence. What was done on that day was wrong and horrific, and badly damaged its

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name, but I tell you it is a good regiment with good people.

Since leaving the Army, I have done a lot of photography, and taught it at university. Because of my experiences, I have examined a lot of war photography, including Capa's photograph of D-Day, the girl burnt by napalm in Vietnam and the recent horrific photographs from Iraq of the abuse of prisoners. One that had a huge impact on me is that of Father Daly, a priest in the United Kingdom, begging for safe passage for injured people. What a terrible situation to have in our country.

The damage that was done by Bloody Sunday can be seen in an historical context. I was given a piece of paper when I first went over there. It talked about the Romans invading Britain. We had to understand our place, as we went into Northern Ireland, in the context of those few scraps of paper. Bloody Sunday was hugely damaging, and the responsibility on those individuals who failed is great, when we remember the damage that they did to the populace and to the country.

However, some individuals did try to find a different place. I pay tribute to John Hume, Lord Trimble and former President Clinton, as well as to the combatants who chose a different path. I experienced a sense of disbelief when I saw some of the players coming together to shake hands and try to find a solution. I honestly did not believe some of the imagery that I was seeing, because it was so heart-warming; it was a tremendous place to be. I remember watching people arguing the toss about water rates, and thinking how great it was that they were not trying to kill each other.

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Having said all that, and having thought how wonderful it was that such a great effort had been made to find peace, I was at a meeting at the Tory Party conference recently with Sinn Fein's deputy leader Martin McGuinness. I have to tell you of the absolute revulsion and anger that I felt when he walked into the room. So it is great for you politicians to do it, but for me, that moment involved a huge journey and a massive leap. But as he spieled his spiel, and as the media and the Secretary of State challenged him, I realised that that was the place where we needed to be. That is why those Members should be in the House of Commons, where they can be held to account. That is the politics of the future.

Shortly, we shall be celebrating and commemorating the lives of the individuals who have died. Another event that occurred when I was over there was the bomb at Enniskillen in 1987. I do not know how Gordon Wilson found the strength to say that he would not hold a grudge, and that he did not want to use "dirty" words at a time like that when his daughter, Marie, a nurse, had been killed at a Remembrance Sunday service. That was tremendous.

In answer to my own question about whether we should drag people back into inquiries, I believe that we need to grasp the moment now. The ground has been set for political debates about water rates, and this is not the moment to go back over all the issues of the 3,000-plus, including the 1,000-plus soldiers, who were killed, and of the brutal events that took place. We need to argue about water rates. We need to hold the Government to account about the comprehensive spending review. Those are the things that need to be sorted now.

Northern Ireland needs to be a normal place, and that is the future that I want to see.

Kris Hopkins is a former soldier and the Conservative MP for Keighley.

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