
When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in May 1979, Martin McGuinness promised her a 'long
But a new book suggests the threat to the 70-year-old earl was well-known and key flaws in his security handed his killers their opportunity By Kathryn Johnston August 27 2019 Forty years ago today, Martin McGuinness, chief of staff of the IRA since 1978, was on the verge of realising the ambition he had vowed to fulfil when he took command. He had set his sights, he told the army council and GHQ staff, on creating "a liberated zone along the border." On August 27, 1979, he p