UK Unionist Party
Encyclopedia
The UK Unionist Party was a small unionist political party
operating in Northern Ireland
from 1995 to 2008. It was nominally formed by Robert McCartney
, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party
, to contest a by-election the North Down by-election, 1995
and then further constituted to contest the 1996 elections for the Northern Ireland Forum
. McCartney had previously contested the 1987 general election
as an independent using the label Real Unionist.
government and parliament. The UKUP was outspoken in its opposition to the Republic of Ireland
possessing any participative role in the governance of Northern Ireland.
It was also highly critical of the British Labour
government of Tony Blair
for allowing Sinn Féin
to participate in the Northern Irish government prior to the IRA fully disarming. The party also opposed the re-organising of policing in Northern Ireland, which saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) being replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland
(PSNI).
, a former government minister in the Republic of Ireland
. O'Brien's hostility to militant republicanism was well known, and the adherence of such a prominent supporter from the south helped reinforce the UKUP's claims to be a non-sectarian Unionist party.
McCartney and O'Brien, along with Cedric Wilson
, won seats on the 1996 Forum. The UKUP (and the Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP)) refused to accept US Senator
George Mitchell
as chairman of the multi-party talks and tried to obstruct him in the undertaking of his tasks. In July 1996, the UKUP withdrew from the multi-party talks in protest at the way in which the Drumcree standoff
was handled. When Sinn Féin
entered the talks in September 1997, the UKUP and the DUP left them in protest.
At the 1997 General Election
, McCartney was re-elected as the Member of Parliament
for North Down
. The party opposed the April 1998 Belfast Agreement
and campaigned against the establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly
, in which they were unsuccessful. It did contest the election
for the Assembly, however, and won five seats.
In 1998, the party underwent a lot of internal turmoil. O'Brien published an article in which he called for unionists to consider and embrace the idea of a United Ireland
- something that was anathema to most in the UKUP. He subsequently resigned altogether from the party. Then in December the party split over the issue of Sinn Féin taking up its seats in the power sharing executive without prior Provisional Irish Republican Army
decommissioning of weapons. McCartney proposed that if this should happen, the five UKUP members should resign their seats in protest, but this was opposed by the other assembly members. At a party meeting at which the other four were absent, McCartney censured his Assembly colleagues over this split. The two sides both argued that they had the support of the grassroots members of the party. On 5 January 1999, all four left the UKUP to form the Northern Ireland Unionist Party
, leaving McCartney as the sole UKUP representative in the assembly.
At the 2001 General Election
, McCartney lost his seat in the House of Commons
to the Ulster Unionist Party
. In the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003
, he was only narrowly re-elected to the Assembly. The party, like most other small parties, suffered a substantial decline in the election, holding only one seat. The rival Northern Ireland Unionist Party
created by breakaway Members of the Legislative Assembly
, lost all of its seats.
In 2005, the UKUP did not contest any Westminster seats in the General election, however its two councillors in North Down stood for re-election, but both lost their seats.
In the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007
, the UKUP fielded candidates in thirteen of Northern Ireland's eighteen constituencies, but failed to win any seats. Leader McCartney personally stood in six constituencies and former Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP) MLA George Ennis
also stood on the UKUP ticket. The party stood on a platform opposing plans by the DUP to enter into devolved government with Sinn Féin after the election and on other issues including rates, water charges and education. The UKUP was seen as the main channel for DUP members disaffected with plans to share power with Sinn Féin.
Following McCartney's defeat in North Down
in the Assembly elections in 2007, the UKUP was left without elected representatives at any level in Northern Ireland. Their leader Robert McCartney announced his retirement from politics following the loss of his assembly seat in North Down to Brian Wilson
of the Green Party
. As of September 2008, the UKUP is no longer listed as a registered party in the Northern Ireland Register of Political Parties maintained by the UK Electoral Commission.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
operating in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
from 1995 to 2008. It was nominally formed by Robert McCartney
Robert McCartney (politician)
Robert Law McCartney QC is a Northern Ireland barrister and former leader of the UK Unionist Party.He was initially a member of the Ulster Unionist Party but was expelled in June 1987 when he refused to withdraw from the general election of that year...
, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
, to contest a by-election the North Down by-election, 1995
North Down by-election, 1995
The North Down by-election, in the North Down constituency, was held on 15 June 1995, following the death of James Kilfedder, who had represented the constituency since the 1970 general election...
and then further constituted to contest the 1996 elections for the Northern Ireland Forum
Northern Ireland Forum
The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....
. McCartney had previously contested the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
as an independent using the label Real Unionist.
Ideology
Ideologically, the UK Unionist Party was an integrationist party which, unlike most Northern Irish unionist parties, believed that Northern Ireland should be governed from London with no regional home ruleHome rule
Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....
government and parliament. The UKUP was outspoken in its opposition to the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
possessing any participative role in the governance of Northern Ireland.
It was also highly critical of the British Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
for allowing Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
to participate in the Northern Irish government prior to the IRA fully disarming. The party also opposed the re-organising of policing in Northern Ireland, which saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC) being replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
(PSNI).
History
The party secured a particular coup in 1996 when it was joined by Conor Cruise O'BrienConor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. Although his opinion on the role of Britain in Northern Ireland changed over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he always acknowledge values of, as he saw, the two irreconcilable traditions...
, a former government minister in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. O'Brien's hostility to militant republicanism was well known, and the adherence of such a prominent supporter from the south helped reinforce the UKUP's claims to be a non-sectarian Unionist party.
McCartney and O'Brien, along with Cedric Wilson
Cedric Wilson
Cedric Wilson is a politician in Northern Ireland.Born in Belfast, Wilson became the director of a private nursing home. In 1981, he was elected to Castlereagh Borough Council for the Democratic Unionist Party, a post he held until 1989...
, won seats on the 1996 Forum. The UKUP (and the Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
(DUP)) refused to accept US Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
George Mitchell
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...
as chairman of the multi-party talks and tried to obstruct him in the undertaking of his tasks. In July 1996, the UKUP withdrew from the multi-party talks in protest at the way in which the Drumcree standoff
Drumcree conflict
The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is an ongoing dispute over a yearly parade in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The dispute is between the Orange Order and local residents. The residents are currently represented by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition ; before 1995 they were...
was handled. When Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
entered the talks in September 1997, the UKUP and the DUP left them in protest.
At the 1997 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, McCartney was re-elected as the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for North Down
North Down (UK Parliament constituency)
North Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Sylvia Hermon, elected as an Independent in the 2010 General Election. -Boundaries:The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the northern part of Down...
. The party opposed the April 1998 Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
and campaigned against the establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
, in which they were unsuccessful. It did contest the election
Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998
-Seats summary:-Details:Although the SDLP won the most first preference votes, the Ulster Unionists won the most seats in the Assembly. This has been attributed to several reasons, including:...
for the Assembly, however, and won five seats.
In 1998, the party underwent a lot of internal turmoil. O'Brien published an article in which he called for unionists to consider and embrace the idea of a United Ireland
United Ireland
A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...
- something that was anathema to most in the UKUP. He subsequently resigned altogether from the party. Then in December the party split over the issue of Sinn Féin taking up its seats in the power sharing executive without prior Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
decommissioning of weapons. McCartney proposed that if this should happen, the five UKUP members should resign their seats in protest, but this was opposed by the other assembly members. At a party meeting at which the other four were absent, McCartney censured his Assembly colleagues over this split. The two sides both argued that they had the support of the grassroots members of the party. On 5 January 1999, all four left the UKUP to form the Northern Ireland Unionist Party
Northern Ireland Unionist Party
The Northern Ireland Unionist Party was a small political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed in January 1999 as a splinter party from the UK Unionist Party . This split was caused by disagreement between the five UKUP members of the Northern Ireland Assembly...
, leaving McCartney as the sole UKUP representative in the assembly.
At the 2001 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, McCartney lost his seat in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
to the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
. In the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003
Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2003
The second elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which at the time of the elections had been suspended for just over a year, were held on Wednesday 26 November 2003. Six members were elected by Single Transferable Vote from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary...
, he was only narrowly re-elected to the Assembly. The party, like most other small parties, suffered a substantial decline in the election, holding only one seat. The rival Northern Ireland Unionist Party
Northern Ireland Unionist Party
The Northern Ireland Unionist Party was a small political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed in January 1999 as a splinter party from the UK Unionist Party . This split was caused by disagreement between the five UKUP members of the Northern Ireland Assembly...
created by breakaway Members of the Legislative Assembly
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
, lost all of its seats.
In 2005, the UKUP did not contest any Westminster seats in the General election, however its two councillors in North Down stood for re-election, but both lost their seats.
In the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007
Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007
The third elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 7 March 2007 when 108 new members were elected. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, along with the Alliance Party, increase their...
, the UKUP fielded candidates in thirteen of Northern Ireland's eighteen constituencies, but failed to win any seats. Leader McCartney personally stood in six constituencies and former Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
(DUP) MLA George Ennis
George Ennis
Alderman George Ennis is a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.He is a former Democratic Unionist Party politician first elected to Ards in 1993 and was Mayor of Ards in 1998-1999....
also stood on the UKUP ticket. The party stood on a platform opposing plans by the DUP to enter into devolved government with Sinn Féin after the election and on other issues including rates, water charges and education. The UKUP was seen as the main channel for DUP members disaffected with plans to share power with Sinn Féin.
Following McCartney's defeat in North Down
North Down
North Down can refer to:*North Down Borough Council in Northern Ireland.*North Down in Northern Ireland.*North Down in Northern Ireland....
in the Assembly elections in 2007, the UKUP was left without elected representatives at any level in Northern Ireland. Their leader Robert McCartney announced his retirement from politics following the loss of his assembly seat in North Down to Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson (Northern Ireland politician)
Brian Wilson MLA is an Independent politician in Northern Ireland. He was the first member of the Green Party to be elected as member of the Northern Ireland Assembly....
of the Green Party
Green Party in Northern Ireland
The Green Party in Northern Ireland is the Northern Ireland subdivision of the Irish Green Party, based on the principles of Green politics. It works in co-operation with Green parties across Europe, and was formerly a party in its own right...
. As of September 2008, the UKUP is no longer listed as a registered party in the Northern Ireland Register of Political Parties maintained by the UK Electoral Commission.