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Notes -
It is a part, but I wouldn't call it "the most important part". Admittedly, in Northern Ireland specifically it is a larger part than usual, but I'd call running the country more important than calling for calm (I think I'd prefer a politician who ran the country and never called for calm to one which called for calm and never ran the country, although admittedly a politician that calls for mob violence is a different kettle of fish).
This reminds me of "More Communication" from last week. You can call for calm because you want the sentiment to go away (with no substantive action), or because you've received the message and will take action (so any further excitement is wasted).
Imagine that you're in the wild west. A local commits an atrocity, and a mob gathers to lynch him. The sheriff steps out in front of them and says "You need to calm down...
Those are wildly different messages, that could both be described as telling the townsfolk to calm down.
\3. Because I sympathize with him and plan to let him go and I would really rather you not do anything when I let him go.
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I replied to @netstack arguing something similar.
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