"Powerful case" for inquiry into Birmingham pub bombings - Prime Minister

"I will look very hard at what we can do," he tells campaigns

PRIME Minister Boris Johnson says there is “a powerful case” for a panel-led inquiry into the Birmingham pub bombings.

And he said he would be talking to West Midlands Mayor Andy Street about what could be done.

But, speaking on BBC Radio WM, he added: “I think we would need to look at the evidence to see if it justifies it.”

Mr Johnson said: “I will look very hard at what we can do.”

He understood the grief still felt in the city following the IRA attacks in 1974 which left 21 people dead and recognised the need for closure, he added.

Mr Street has been a long-standing supporter of the Justice4the21 campaign group and has discussed the issue of the pub bombings with the past three Home Secretaries.

Last week, at the 45th memorial service, he pledged to continue to press the matter with whoever becomes Home Secretary after the general election.

Mr Street had said: “Nothing we say or do can bring those innocent victims back, but we can still try to achieve justice for their families, and for a city that has many unanswered questions.

He added: “I have come to the conclusion that the time is right for a panel-led, open public inquiry into the pub bombings.”

In April, an inquest jury ruled that the 21 people killed in explosions at The Mulberry Bush and The Tavern In The Town on November 21, 1974 were unlawfully killed, following a direction from coroner Sir Peter Thornton QC.

A botched warning call by the IRA caused or contributed to the deaths of those who were murdered in the attacks.

The 11 members of the jury panel sat through almost six weeks of evidence and heard how two massive detonations caused what one witness described as “pure carnage”, ripping apart the packed pubs on the night of November 21, killing 21 and injuring 220 more.

It found no errors in the way police responded to the explosions on the balance of the evidence provided.

But the campaign group has continued to call for a public inquiry because it believes there is further evidence which was not aired at the inquest.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has already said there must be an independent inquiry into the Birmingham pub bombings.

Speaking as he launched his general election manifesto in the city, he said: “There has to be an independent inquiry into this”.

The Justice4the21 campaigners said such support could be “a game changer” but added: “We want to see politicians delivering on their promises because we have had years of empty promises.”

After Mr Johnson’s comments, campaign spokeswoman Julie Hambleton said: “Mr Johnson speaks about if it is justified - how can it not be justified?

“The Birmingham pub bombings remains the biggest unsolved mass murder of the 20th Century.”

Six men, known as the Birmingham Six, were jailed in 1975 for the bomb attacks, but their wrongful convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1991.

No-one has been since brought to justice but West Midlands Police insist the pub bombings investigation has never closed.