Omagh-born Labour PRO John Devine enjoyed a particularly good rapport with the Northern activists. Before joining the staff in Labour’s head office in October 1968, he had been a journalist with the Irish Times for fifteen years, and before that with the Belfast Telegraph. His contacts in the North were good to begin with and grew stronger as he travelled up on several occasions around this time. He hit it off particularly well with the Republican Labour MP for Belfast Central, Paddy Kennedy.