Strangers in the Lobby

Olivia O'Leary tells the story of the only 'foreign' journalists allowed into the heart of Westminster: the Irish lobby. When Irish nationalists planted dynamite inside the House of Commons in 1885, their attack was foiled but the action led, indirectly, to the setting up of the modern lobby system. Today, all the major UK newspapers and broadcasters have lobby correspondents but it is a little-known fact that a small group of Irish journalists work alongside them.