Hundreds of people gather outside Finsbury Park Mosque to show solidarity for the victims of the attack on June 20, 2017. NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.A quarter of a century separates Britain's general elections of 1992 and 2007. Comparing the two results is the stuff of much political commentary. But there is a less remembered connection with much greater relevance, for it goes to the heart of Britain's currrent security dilemmas.
The 1992 vote took place on Thursday 9 April 1992. On the next day, two huge bombs exploded in London, both planted by the Provisional IRA. They were intended to target the city’s economy, just at the time when it was vying with Frankfurt to be the financial capital of Europe. The PIRA aim was to discourage any major European bank or finance group from locating in London (see "The asymmetry of economic war", 14 February 2008).
The first bomb disrupted one of London’s busiest road junctions, where the M1 motorway joined the North Circular Road. The second detonated outside the Baltic Exchange, in the heart of the city’s central business district. PIRA did not want to kill people although there were three deaths in the city bombing. The damage to many of the gleaming high-rise offices was assessed at a billion pounds.
