State Papers: Officials stage-managed Bruton and Major's 'spontaneous' pub visit

The British prime minister and his wife, Norma, also saw a performance of Handel’s Messiah in the National Concert Hall which Mr Major described as “a truly marvellous evening.” 

Records show that a visit to a pub had also been proposed by John Major (left) as some form of “natural event” during his trip to visit John Bruton (right) in Dublin. Photo: Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

The common practice of a stop-off in an Irish pub for a pint of Guinness by visiting heads was planned as a “natural bonding event” by Government officials who stage-managed a “spontaneous” visit by John Major and John Bruton to Foley’s bar on Merrion Row in Dublin in 1995.

Later that evening the British prime minister and his wife, Norma, were brought to a performance of Handel’s Messiah in the National Concert Hall which Mr Major described as “a truly marvellous evening.”