Gerry Adams: Stepping back into the long shadows

The long arc of Gerry Adams’ career suggests this was a move based entirely on strategy, rather than guided by any moral compass, writes Michael Clifford

WHAT if Gerry Adams had stuck it out with the Stickies? How different would history have been? Would he have ended up a tribune of austerity in a coalition government? Or would he have died violently long before now?

As Mr Adams today steps back to the shadows from the leadership of Sinn Féin, it’s worth pondering on a big What If. When the split came in Sinn Féin/IRA in late 1969, many saw Mr Adams as throwing his lot in with the Officials, rather than the Provisionals.