Chris Hudson (trade unionist)

Christopher Hudson is an Irish former trade union activist who subsequently became a Unitarian minister in Northern Ireland. During the final years of the Troubles Hudson became prominent as a negotiator between the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Irish government and played a key role helping to deliver the Northern Ireland peace process.

Early life

Hudson was born in

Hudson's uncle was executed by the Irish Free State government during the Irish Civil War for his activity with the IRA and later a road in his native Dún Laoghaire was named in his honour.^[5]

Hudson played in a band, the Chosen Few, with Fran O'Toole, who also played in the Miami Showband.^[5] O'Toole was subsequently killed in 1975 by the Mid-Ulster UVF as part of the Miami Showband killings. He also worked as a hairdresser, a writer and in amateur theatre before following a career in the Irish post office.^[6]

Activism

Married to Dr Isabella Evangelisti, an art historian, Hudson became a prominent figure with the Communication Workers Union.^[7]

He also became prominent in the

On 29 March 1993 several community activists from the Shankill Road, who were also secretly members of the UVF, attended a discussion about cross-community class co-operation in Northern Ireland hosted by Republican Sinn Féin in Dublin.^[9] Following the meeting Hudson, who had long held a desire to engage with working class Protestants, met some of the UVF members in a bar.^[5] In the pub Hudson told the UVF members that he abhorred the killings that had just taken place at a Belfast bookmakers – an attack actually carried out by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) – and in response they asked him if he would like to put his objections directly to the UVF leadership. Hudson agreed to hold a meeting.^[2]

Soon after this meeting Hudson was invited to visit Belfast by David Ervine, a leading figure in the UVF's political wing the Progressive Unionist Party.^[5] Hudson travelled to Belfast on 9 June 1993 and met Ervine in Duke's Hotel in the south of the city. The two then travelled to the Shankill where Hudson held a meeting with the head of the UVF and his second-in-command, known as "The Craftsman".^[8][10] The meeting, which was held in the offices of the Shankill Historical Society, was fraught and saw the UVF leadership make direct threats to Hudson to bomb Dublin.^[8] He would subsequently describe this early meeting as difficult, although he added that he trusted Ervine as an individual from the start.^[11] Following the meeting Hudson informed Fergus Finlay about this new line of contact and when he met the UVF leadership again in November 1993 he carried messages between the two parties.^[12]

Hudson's meetings were controversial as they came at a time of comparatively high activity for the UVF. Between his first and second meetings with the leadership the UVF killed six people, five Catholic civilians and a prison officer.^[13] Nonetheless, he continued to keep in contact with the UVF and passed information between them and Finlay.^[14] At the time Finlay was working directly under Dick Spring and he too was aware of the meetings, advising Finlay about the contents of his communications whilst ensuring that the Irish government maintained a policy of no direct negotiations with any paramilitary groups without ceasefire.^[14]

Hudson continued to liaise closely with Ervine throughout late 1993 and early 1994.^[15] Again however the UVF campaign of violence increased, with a series of letter and parcel bomb attacks launched on both sides of the border in early 1994.^[16] Hudson's phone conversations with the UVF leadership became increasingly tense as they continued to make threats to attack Dublin.^[17]

Immediately after the Loughinisland massacre Hudson told Ervine in a phone call that he wanted to break off contact with the UVF, although he was convinced otherwise.^[18] A face to face meeting Hudson held with the UVF leadership a few days after Loughinisland was especially tense, with several threats made against Ireland, including a claim that the UVF would kill an American tourist in Dublin as a headline grabber.^[19]

On 31 August 1994 the

The Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) announced its own ceasefire on 13 October 1994, although Hudson was at the time in Pakistan doing charity work for Oxfam.^[24] However, on his return he immediately reopened his lines of communication and helped to arrange informal early meetings between Dick Spring and Gusty Spence.^[25]

In the aftermath of the CLMC ceasefire he met UDA brigadier and Ulster Democratic Party negotiator Joe English by chance in a Dublin hotel, although he did not mediate with the UDA as formal contact with the Irish government had already been opened by that point.^[26] Nonetheless, Hudson and English became friends through their joint-involvement in a number of cross-border initiatives and in July 1999 they visited the site of the Battle of the Somme together.^[27]

Unitarianism

Raised a Catholic, Hudson dabbled with atheism during his teenage years.^[6] He subsequently became attracted to liberal Protestantism and got involved in Unitarianism, attending the Dublin Unitarian Church.^[6] He served as a lay minister before being ordained in 2005.^[6] Following his ordination he was moved to All Souls' Church in south Belfast to serve as a minister.^[6] In 2019 he was installed as moderator of the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

Subsequent activity

Hudson was involved in the campaign to stop the extradition of