The Queen shows sensitivity towards Northern Ireland as David Cameron faces whispers that he is neglecting the Province
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The Troubles visited the royal family when the IRA murdered Earl Mountbatten of Burma in 1979. Photograph: Davis/Bettmann/CORBIS
All the finest revolutionaries end up taking tea with the Queen at a palace garden party, goes the old saying.
Martin McGuinness, who declared in 1973 that he was "very very proud" to be a member of the IRA, may not sip tea with the Queen at Stormont next week and he certainly will not be going anywhere near Buckingham Palace.
But the handshake between the former IRA commander and the Queen will be one of the most remarkable – and symbolically significant – moments in the peace process.
The meeting is only possible after the Queen's deft handling of her visit to the Irish Republic last year. Sinn Fein, which boycotted the visit, was left looking exposed by the octogenarian British monarch who has a deep and intimate understanding of Northern Ireland.
The Troubles visited the royal family in 1979 when the IRA assassinated Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle. The Queen has always followed Northern Ireland with care. Officials who brief her on the peace process say she has always shown a formidable grasp of finer points of detail.
David Cameron would probably do well to follow the Queen's example. The prime minister showed his own deft touch when he issued an unequivocal apology for Bloody Sunday in 1972 shortly after becoming prime minister.
Since then he has shown little interest in Northern Ireland. Downing Street said on Friday that next week's handshake was a matter for the palace. If he were still prime minister Tony Blair would have used the handshake to explain the transformative impact of the peace process.
Cameron says there are other priorities given that Northern Ireland is so stable. But the lessons of the 1960s, when the Troubles exploded, is that British prime ministers neglect Northern Ireland at their peril.
Some Conservatives have started to raise concerns about the prime minister's lack of interest. In a commons debate on Thursday the Conservative chairman of the commons Northern Ireland select committee, Laurence Robertson, indicated unease that Cameron has no current plans to attend the meeting of the British Irish-Inter Parliamentary Assembly in Glasgow in October. This is the sister body of the British Irish Council, established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to normalise relations between the two islands. This met in Stirling on Friday.
Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister, attended. Britain was represented by Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary. Moore is a fine man who is winning praise for his calm handling of the row over a referendum on Scottish independence. But he is not the prime minister. Tony Blair always did his best to attend meetings of the council.