Leadership Quote by Peter Hain

Hain’s sentence is less an invitation than a gate with a friendly sign on it. The repeated “already indicated” does double duty: it sounds like due diligence, but it also preloads the argument with an assumption of Sinn Fein’s intent. By the time he asks for a “credible statement,” credibility has quietly been defined as agreement with his framing. This is classic peace-process language that isn’t really about language at all; it’s about leverage.

The key phrase is “once we get that credible statement.” “Once” turns a political demand into a mere procedural step, as if the only thing between stalemate and progress is a missing piece of paperwork. In reality, that “statement” is a public act of repositioning - a way to force Sinn Fein to signal restraint, distance itself from violence, and reassure unionists and the British public that engagement won’t be seen as capitulation. Hain’s emphasis on getting “around the table” offers the moral high ground: talks are the reasonable default, and anyone not meeting the condition becomes the obstacle to peace.

The subtext is audience management. He’s speaking to multiple constituencies at once: unionists who want proof before concessions, British voters wary of rewarding militants, and republicans who understand that “credible” often means “sufficiently humiliating.” The final note - “I’m confident we can do so” - is optimism with a political purpose: it sells firmness as pragmatism, and pressure as progress.