Former British prime minister Sir Edward Heath today rejected allegations that he tried to influence the first official inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings.
Sir Edward (86) yesterday admitted telling then Lord Chief Justice Lord Widgery, that Britain was "fighting not only a military war but a propaganda war", before appointing him to head the first Bloody Sunday inquiry in 1972.
The current Bloody Sunday Inquiry, sitting in central London, heard that he contacted Lord Widgery and told him the importance of the investigation being speedily conducted. It lasted 20 days.
Sir Edward ordered the inquiry the day after British paratroopers shot dead 13 Catholic men on the ill fated civil rights march in Derry on January 30th 1972.
To counteract the likely bad feeling that the army would provoke, Sir Edward suggested that the soldiers should give evidence first.
Mr Christopher Clarke QC, counsel for the inquiry, asked Sir Edward: "Did it ever cross your mind that it might be inappropriate for you to seek to influence the method of procedure of an independent judicial inquiry?"
Sir Edward replied: "When there is an inquiry, anyone can put their points to them."
Mr Clarke QC asked if Sir Edward, as the Prime Minister of the day, was warning Lord Widgery that anything he said could be "interpreted as critical of the army" and could be "seized" on and used as propaganda.
Sir Edward replied: "No, not at all because the Lord Chief Justice's independence and strengths were so great and recognised, that is why we were pleased at having him do the inquiry."
Sir Edward said that he was only informing Lord Widgery that "this propaganda war was going on the whole time and would continue". It had "nothing to do with his operation", he said.
The Widgery Inquiry largely exonerated the paratroopers, saying they fired in self defence. The paratroopers claim they only fired at gunmen and nailbombers.
Families of the dead and the wounded dismiss the Widgery Inquiry as a whitewash to protect soldiers who fired without justification.
Later, Sir Edward angrily denied failing to give adequate attention to security in the run up to the Bloody Sunday killings.
In a heated exchange he accused Mr Michael Lavery QC, the counsel representing many of the families of the victims, of being "offensive" in his language and attitude.
Sir Edward became annoyed when Mr Lavery QC suggested his Government had failed to give the "weekly" killings in Northern Ireland the attention they deserved.
Mr Lavery told the inquiry that Sir Edward's "principal preoccupation" was joining the European Economic Community and not addressing the Northern Ireland situation. Cabinet-level meetings on Northern Ireland were "generally short and discussions brief," Mr Lavery said.
He went on: "Let us see if we can see the sort of thing that you discuss in your brief discussion, only seven people killed this week, let us get into the next item on the agenda.
"Would that be the form these meetings would take?"
Sir Edward replied: "No, that is putting the whole thing in an obscene way that bears no relationship to what we did and the reasons we did it. I strongly object to your offensive language and attitude."
During today's exchanges, Sir Edward objected to both the questions asked and the tone in which they were put.
Mr Lavery asked him: "Do you consider that you were fulfilling your duty to your people who were being killed and murdered by saying 'well, although I am Prime Minister and I have been elected, I am not going to have something personally to do with you'.
"That is what I am putting to you."
Sir Edward said: "You are quite wrong. You wish to be offensive and you are succeeding."
Mr Lavery insisted that he was not trying to cause offence and said he hoped he was treating the former Prime Minister with "courtesy and respect".
He said he was merely asking if it was "inappropriate" for Sir Edward to have delegated matters in Northern Ireland to two senior ministers instead of dealing with them personally.
Sir Edward told the inquiry that any important matters were immediately referred to him.
Sir Edward agreed with Mr Lavery that Northern Ireland Catholics had been discriminated against by the Stormont Government for 50 years.
He insisted that his government had attempted to change that situation, saying: "I was delighted when, under my government, in November 1973, we had the first all party government in Northern Ireland."
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.
PA