Thatcher took an uncompromising stand against another hunger strike which had broken out in Long Kesh (see Chapter 9). This resulted in some of the strikers standing as ‘H Block’ candidates in a southern election on 11 June 1981. Overall they took votes from Fianna Fail’s Republican rump, and two were actually elected (Kieran Doherty, who subsequently died on the strike, and Patrick Agnew).
