Lawyers for the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, will launch a judicial review in the High Court in Belfast this morning designed to block the release of four IRA prisoners in Northern Ireland, including the Brighton bomber, Patrick Magee.
Mr Straw's dramatic intervention last night took the Irish Government, Sinn Fein and other political parties in the North by surprise. And while his intervention was officially explained in the context of a legal argument over the setting of the "tariff" for the release of the prisoners, there was intense suspicion that the move might be politically motivated to intensify pressure on Sinn Fein and the IRA over the issue of decommissioning ahead of next week's deadline for the creation of the Northern Ireland executive.
There was also a strong belief in Westminster and Whitehall circles that the move would be seen as politically advantageous to the British government, after the sentencing last Friday of the killers of Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick and the subsequent confirmation that those sentenced, for a total of 640 years, were likely to be released next year.
The Home Office said Mr Straw was "seeking clarification" of the application of law under the terms of the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act, as it applies to prisoners transferred from England and Wales to Northern Ireland. And Downing Street moved swiftly to check any suggestion of political interference, insisting the decision to seek a judicial review was a legal matter and not linked in any way to the early release scheme under the Belfast Agreement or decommissioning.
Just hours after Magee and three other prisoners - Paul Kavanagh, Thomas Quigley and Gerrard McDonnell - were informed of their release dates, the British government obtained an interim order setting aside the decision by the Northern Ireland Sentence Review Commission to bring forward their release dates.
All four men had lodged appeals against their original release dates - which would have meant they were released in July 2000 under the terms of the Belfast Agreement - and were given the new dates yesterday by the Commission. Three - Kavanagh, Quigley and McDonnell - were due to be released today and Magee on June 22nd.
Kavanagh and Quigley were given five life sentences each in 1985 for the bombing of Chelsea Barracks in London in which two people died and for the murder of a third person in the bombing of a restaurant. McDonnell, who was Magee's accomplice in the Brighton bombing, was sentenced to life in 1986 for conspiracy to cause explosions. In 1984, Patrick Magee nearly succeeded in wiping out the entire Conservative government when he bombed Brighton's Grand Hotel.
The former prime minister, Baroness Thatcher, and her cabinet were staying at the hotel during that year's Conservative Party conference and the bomb killed five people, including a Tory MP, Sir Anthony Berry, and injured 34 others. Magee was given eight life sentences at the Old Bailey two years later with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 35 years, which meant that prior to the Belfast Agreement, he would not have been eligible for release until 2020.
The DUP justice spokesman Mr Ian Paisley junior, said last night Mr Straw's action was an example of the British government's double standards.
"There is a gross inconsistency operating in regard to how the government treats victims in Northern Ireland and how it treats victims on the British mainland and I think that is best expressed by the decision of the Home Secretary," he said.
The SDLP's Mr Alex Attwod said: "People will be suspicious that this is motivated by legal rather than for political reasons."
The Sinn Fein prisoners' spokesman, Mr Gerry Kelly, accused Mr Straw of interfering with the Belfast Agreement. "Sinn Fein believes that the decision of the review board to release the four men is the right one and that Jack Straw should withdraw any procedures to change that decision," he said.
Mr Paisley junior called for a similar review to prevent the early release of the IRA Shankill bomber Sean Kelly.