Frail but sharp Heath takes the stand

Heath was prime minister at the time of the shootings

By Lisa Mitchell BBC News Online

Documents marked top secret, bag searches and police marksmen are not normally part of the routine at a British public inquiry.

But this was not an ordinary hearing, and the man taking the stand in the Bloody Sunday Inquiry was no ordinary witness.

Here sat a former prime minister, stripped of the cloaks of office and required to answer questions like everyone else about his role in the tragic events in Londonderry on 30 Jan 1972, in which 13 civilians died.

Sir Edward Heath was there to answer accusations that the British Government had adopted a policy of shooting "hooligan elements" in Derry's no-go areas.

Lord Widgery: Headed original inquiry

Another allegation was that he already knew the paratroops sent to deal with the civil rights march had in the past "overreacted" at such protests.

And that he told the judge in charge of the first inquiry into the events of that day that he should not forget the UK was fighting a "propaganda war".

Any fears that perhaps mistakes had been made during his leadership did not appear to trouble Sir Edward, as he was helped into his seat at Westminster Hall in London.

White hair, a hearing device and obvious frailty belied a quickness of mind that had him recalling events of 30 years ago as if they were yesterday.

When he was asked about a remark the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, had made in a Cabinet meeting - that those obstructing the army were enemies of the Queen and liable to be shot - it was dismissed in his gruff and slightly haughty manner.

'Integrity'

With the confidence of retort with which he used to dispatch opposition MPs while leading the Conservative government in the early 1970s, he snorted: "Oh, he exploded in a very Quentin like way - nobody took very much notice."

As court illustrators scribbled away, trying to capture his concentrated expression with its one arched eyebrow, Sir Edward listened intently as the British Government's response to the problem in Northern Ireland was described.

In a statement read to the inquiry, he told how the government had only agreed to internment if there was a complete ban on marches.

He said he had no knowledge of how the civil rights march was going to be policed and an alleged shoot-to-kill policy would have been against his government's principle of using "minimum force".

He conceded he had made the propaganda remark to Lord Widgery - a man whose "integrity was beyond doubt and question" - because the inquiry would attract media attention and the judge would find himself in the middle of it.

Lord Saville is investigating what happened on Bloody Sunday

Accusations that the Widgery report was a whitewash finally prompted the establishment of the current Saville Inquiry.

Sir Edward sounded like the kind of man to have on your side in a fight.

After the unfortunate Quentin had been dismissed, he went on to conclude a journalist had lied over a conflicting story with the then chief of staff, Lord Carver, because "it did not sound like Carver".

He stood by the former army chief, even though Carver's reported remarks had cast the former premier in a bad light.

He said Heath had told him he had been advised it would be lawful for British troops to shoot anyone who got in the way. This Sir Edward denied.

The 86-year-old's testimony may not add much to the inquiry.

He was, by his own admission, much more concerned in 1972 with entry into the Common Market than Northern Ireland and for him the events of 30 January were "totally unexpected".

But it did reveal a fascinating insight into the still sharp mind of a man who proved his chief of staff was where Sir Edward said he was by producing his home guest book - 30 years after the friends he had for lunch signed it.