Making Sense of the Troubles: A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict

by David McKittrick

Five days after Sands began refusing food, independent nationalist MP Frank Maguire died suddenly, creating a by-election in the Fermanagh–South Tyrone Westminster constituency. Maguire’s brother was dissuaded by republicans from going forward, and Sands became the sole nationalist candidate. In the election he beat Harry West, the former Unionist party leader who was attempting a comeback, to win the seat by 30,492 votes to 29,046 on an 87 per cent poll. It was a propaganda victory of huge proportions for the IRA, made possible by the widespread nationalist sense that Thatcher was adopting altogether too rigid a stance. Since Sands’s victory was one of the key events in the development of Sinn Féin as an electoral force, some observers regard it as the genesis of what would eventually become the peace process. At the time, however, it made no difference to the government’s attitude, and the stalemate continued.