The Prime Minister rose to a packed House of Commons. Rumours that he was to make a momentous statement about the future of Northern Ireland had been circulating for some days, and it was known that he had been having a series of briefing meetings that very morning with senior colleagues and leaders of the opposition parties. At the same moment, the Leader of the House of Lords stood (“in another place”) to repeat the statement to an equally full House, while in Dublin the Irish Taoiseach, Michael O’Leary, was also on his feet to make a similar announcement. In a carefully planned and co-ordinated lifting of the veil of secrecy, President Bill Minton gave a nation-wide address on radio and television from his White House office.
Hansard carried a verbatim report of the proceedings the next day.