Editing Downing Street Declaration (section)

=== British-Irish Negotiations ===
The British government was first shown Hume's draft in December 1991. In 1992 further versions of the Declaration were drafted by Hume and Adams and shown to both governments,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Quill Project |url=https://www.quillproject.net/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.quillproject.net}}</ref> but the initiative began to develop greater momentum in 1993 with Albert Reynolds lending his weight to it, interrupting his holiday to hand over the latest version to Sir Robin Butler on 6 June 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |last=CJ4/9296 |first=The National Archives of the UK (TNA) |date=6 June 1993 |title=Enclosure: Aide Mémoire from the Irish Government Regarding JD6 |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/351/resource_item/22823 |website=Writing Peace: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford) |access-date=2023-12-12}}</ref> Major had vowed at the outset of his premiership to put Northern Ireland 'on the front burner',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Helen |date=October 2000 |title=John Major, ''The Autobiography'', HarperCollins, London, 1999, xxiii+774 pp., £25.00. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s004727940023612x |journal=Journal of Social Policy |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=697–726 |doi=10.1017/s004727940023612x |s2cid=144933137 |issn=0047-2794|url-access=subscription }}</ref> but he was terrified of the fall out of and Unionist reaction if it emerged that he had been involved in drafting a secret agreement, particularly one which had emerged from John Hume's talks with Sinn Féin. Initially British officials would not then negotiate a joint text, although they did provide some comments. As time went on, however, the responsibility for drafting was devolved to Seán Ó hUiginn and Quentin Thomas. While the British officially refrained from drafting, they were happy to supply 'texts and references'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O hUiginn |first=Sean |date=10 September 1993 |title=Meeting of the Nally-Butler Group – 10 September 1993 |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/341/resource_item/23450 |website=Writing Peace: Dermot Nally Collection, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, accessed 2023)}}</ref> During September to November, the text took shape and incorporated amendments from [[James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead|Jim Molyneaux]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lyne |first=Roderic |date=30 November 1993 |title=Record of a Meeting between John Major, Michael Ancram and Jim Molyneaux on 29 November 1993 at 22.20 |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/351/resource_item/22935 |access-date=12 December 2023 |website=Writing Peace: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford)}}</ref> Archbishop Eames, and Reverend Roy Magee,<ref name=":1" /> designed to make the text more palatable to the Unionist population, including the list of rights which would feature in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mansergh |first=Martin |date=29 September 1993 |title=Meeting with Reverend Roy Magee |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/341/resource_item/23441 |website=Writing Peace: Dermot Nally Collection, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, accessed 2023)}}</ref>

With the text poised and agreement apparently close in late November 1993, the whole initiative was nearly derailed when Robin Butler and David Blatherwick handed Albert Reynolds an alternative British draft on 26 November 1993, on the basis that they feared the current text would be unacceptable to a Unionist audience. Reynolds was furious, feeling that years of work and painstaking negotiation over precise phrases had been undermined.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O hUiginn |first=Sean |date=26 November 1993 |title=Meeting in Reynolds' Office - 26 November 1993 |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/341/resource_item/23485 |access-date=12 December 2023 |website=Writing Peace: Dermot Nally Collection, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, accessed 2023)}}</ref> The fallout of this incident overshadowed the Anglo-Irish summit of 3 December, but neither leader wanted to walk away from the initiative, and committed themselves 'to continue working urgently for a successful outcome'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lyne |first=Roderic |date=3 December 1993 |title=Letter from Roderic Lyne to Jonathan Stephens Enclosing Records of Anglo-Irish Summit Meetings on 3 December 1993 |url=https://www.quillproject.net/resource_collections/351/resource_item/22924 |access-date=12 December 2023 |website=Writing Peace: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, accessed 2023)}}</ref> The task of refining the text was delegated once more to Seán Ó hUiginn and Quentin Thomas, with final amendments made on 14 December 1993. The text was broadcast from a live press conference in Downing Street on 15 December 1993 and widely distributed in Northern Ireland with an accompanying note from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland the following day.