Ex-Fleet Street editor Roy Greenslade should have been more honest over his lifelong support for the IRA.

The criticism comes from Alan Rusbridger who worked with Mr Greenslade at the Guardian.

Mr Rusbridger said he personally found support for the IRA “obnoxious” and his former colleague should have been “frank about his own political beliefs and attachments”.

He’s urged the Guardian to put disclaimers on any articles written by Mr Greenslade.

The newspaper is already investigating a complaint by a woman who claimed she was raped by an IRA member.

Her allegation was dismissed in an article by Mr Greenslade.

Mairia Cahill – who waived her anonymity – claimed he authored the piece saying she was following an anti-Sinn Fein agenda.

Alan Rusbridger

Mr Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian from 1995 to 2015, said:

“All editors must wish he had been transparent at the time rather than leaving this until after he retired.

“The best route to trust is transparency and I suspect all the editors that Roy worked for, not to mention the readers, wish Roy had been more transparent about his own political beliefs.”

Commenting on the article attacking Ms Cahill, he added:

“I think it would have been better for Roy to have been frank about his own political beliefs and attachments.”

“I think it would serve readers well to append … the articles that remain online, noting what he has now made public about his beliefs and attachments.”

Mr Greenslade, a former Daily Mirror editor, recently revealed in an article that he was a supporter of IRA violence.