Talking To Terrorists

JONATHAN POWELL worked for the Foreign Office for fifteen years until, in 1994, Tony Blair poached him to join his 'kitchen cabinet' as his Chief of Staff. After Labour achieved its landslide victory in 1997, Powell spent ten years in government talking to the leaders of the IRA in safe houses across Belfast, Derry and Dublin. Since leaving Number 10 he has worked with a Geneva-based NGO, negotiating between governments and terrorist groups in Europe, Asia and Africa, and has now established his own NGO, InterMediate, to continue this work. InterMediate is already active in six countries.