A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO NORTHERN IRELAND POLITICS; PART THREE: THE ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY
Monday, March 26, 2007 at 09:50AM The Ulster Unionist Party; "The Way of the Lemming"
Over the past ten years, I have acquired the reputation of being a stern critic of the Ulster Unionist Party. (UUP) The ironic thing is that Ulster Unionism should have been my natural political home. After all, at one time I presumed it was a pluralist political party that sought to bring about a decent Northern Ireland for all of the people. Many in the Party still like to imagine this fiction but the truth is much uglier.
Having been born in the Quaker-built village of Bessbrook, an Ulster Unionist political fortress in south Armagh, I rather identified the UUP as the natural party of the Union. In due course I also became of Dr Ian Paisley starting up his alternative party but he was a “maverick” back in those days. Of course the good Doctor has subsequently come to view “mavericks” as a most undesirable political species!
Whilst my family was entirely non-party political, I did pick up on the fact that those public figures who represented the Ulster Unionist Party were a few steps up the social ladder from working class people and this “Big House” dimension to the UUP did not impress me in the least. As I grew older I began to perceive the Ulster Unionists as a group who looked after their own and who were riddled with class snobbery. In many ways the Party had been dipped in political aspic circa 1921 and had never moved on.
In the spirit of balance however I also must say that the UUP had endeavoured to defend the Union to the best of its (limited) ability and indeed it certainly had attracted the unwelcome attention of the IRA for its bother. As a child back in 1972, I can remember the assassination attempt on Ulster Unionist MP John Taylor by Irish republicans in Armagh. It happened near to the swimming pool that I had visited but an hour or so beforehand; fortunately Mr Taylor survived but the IRA lodged five bullets in his head.
When I was living as a student in Belfast in 1981, I recall hearing of the brutal slaying of the Ulster Unionist MP Reverend Robert Bradford, gunned down at a local community centre. I also recall the vicious killing in 1983 of rising Ulster Unionist star Edgar Graham, at Queen’s University in Belfast. Wiping out intelligent Ulster Unionists seemed very much part of the IRA game plan in those dark days and one would have thought that having experienced such horror first-hand, the UUP could be relied upon not to compromise with such bloodthirsty gangsters. How wrong can you be?
Moving forward to the mid-90’s, James Molyneaux was coming to the end of his inept period as leader of the party. There was significant dissent within the ranks at his failure to achieve anything of value and whilst he may have been seen as a “safe pair of hands” by a few, the problem was that he was not waving with them but slowly drowning!
I followed the leadership election meeting to replace him with interest. David Trimble was hardly the establishment figure expected to win and I remember the media speculating that his rival candidates Ken Maginnis or John Taylor would more than likely win the day. But in the final analysis, Trimble came out on top, handsomely beating John Taylor in the run-off. I was pleased about this – since Trimble was also my local MP in Upper Bann. His role in the Drumcree Parade stand off at Portadown in the July of this year undoubtedly had an impact on his fortunes and I suppose one could say that he was seen as a bit of a “right-wing” Unionist. Appearances, of course, can be very deceiving! Trimble became leader on 8th September 1995 and it seemed to me that a new era was dawning. This was indeed the case but how disastrous it would prove for the UUP!
Almost one year after David Trimble became leader, I met with him at the UUP Headquarters in Glengall Street, Belfast. This was when I had become Chairman of the BPPU (Business and Professional People for the Union) and led a delegation of half a dozen or so colleagues to meet Mr Trimble. It proved to be a fiery encounter and we were surprised at how easily Trimble lost his temper. My initial impressions of being ushered into the UUP offices was the deferential tone staff used to “The Leader” I have never liked inappropriate formality and thought the atmosphere strange.
The discussion was all about trying to understand Ulster Unionist strategy with regard to relations with the Irish Government. Trimble was asked would he talk directly to Dublin, he said that he would. This created a hostile response from one of my BPPU colleagues, and Trimble went red in the face and I thought he was going to reach out and throttle the offending questioner! He thumped the table and asked “How dare” we question him on how he would operate “his” policy towards the Irish Government. I think we all felt this was a very over the top reaction and a sour atmosphere pervaded the rest of the meeting. If things had started badly with Mr Trimble they were to go quickly downhill!
One of the best descriptions I ever heard about Trimble came from UK Unionist Leader Robert McCartney who said that Trimble combined the most disastrous aspects of a political personality, a highly developed mind but a weak political personality. Trimble also projected the idea that he knew best. Intelligence without acumen is no benefit in politics!
Suspicions about Trimble’ flawed judgement appeared confirmed in September of the following year, 1997, when he entered a Government controlled political talks process with IRA/Sinn Fein. Equally repellent to unionist such as myself was the link up between the UUP and two very minor parties – the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP). These two parties were political fronts for the terror groups the UVF and the UDA. Both these terror groups had carried out horrendous acts during the previous decades and to see the so-called “Natural Party of Government” as the UUP liked to portray itself parlaying with such scum as the UDA and UVF’s mouthpieces was profoundly revolting.
The following Easter in 1998 Mr Trimble did that which many of us feared and committed his Party to a sordid deal with IRA/Sinn Fein. All along we had to tried to warn Trimble that the outcome of the talks he was involved in was pre-determined. It was all about conflict resolution between the British Government and the IRA. The former wanted to buy off the latter, and the price being asked by the IRA was a process of gradualised Irish unification. The UK Government could not impose this but it needed to ensure that at least some Unionists were stupid enough to participate in faux negotiations to give it the cover required and this is where Trimble’s reckless and misplaced confidence in his own ability to negotiate was to play such a major role.
The Ulster Unionists came out of the negotiations claiming that the Union was secured; that the Irish Government’s ludicrous claims to Northern Ireland in Articles 2&3 had been removed; that the RUC was safe; and that they had got the surety that the IRA would decommission. All pure fantasy!
In fact, the reality was that the 1920 Government of Ireland Act – the Act which created Northern Ireland -- was repealed; that the Irish Government had exchanged its worthless territorial claims in Articles 1 &2 for an internationally recognised claim to ALL of the people of Northern Ireland; that the RUC’s demise was ensured; that hundreds of convicted killers were allowed to walk free; that embryonic and unaccountable all Ireland bodies were established; and that the IRA was not tied down to decommission so much as one bullet.
However such was the unprecedented media spin that even though the Ulster Unionist Party had made a calamitous misjudgement it was nonetheless hailed as a triumph. David Trimble, along with SDLP John Hume, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his “progressiveness.” In a way it was a triumph – but for the skilful strategy of Irish Republicans and the deceitful skills of the UK and Irish mandarins who drafted the detail of what was “agreed”. It was obvious that the Ulster Unionist negotiators lacked the skill requited to get themselves a good deal at a whelk stall, and their boastful claims would be exposed and the Party would go through a self-implosion over the next eighth years.
Its high-water mark was in the immediate aftermath of this deal when it captured 28 seats in the Assembly Election of June 1998, making it the biggest political Party present. At that time, it also had 10 Members of Parliament. The claim to be the “natural party of Government” still seemed vaguely plausible thought that was bout to crash and burn. The reality was that by embracing the Belfast Agreement, the UUP embraced its own demise.
It was towards the end of 1999 that the poor judgement of David Trimble was to be most famously exposed. Having narrowly won one of his interminable “Executive Meetings” (With only the tell tale clink of Zimmer frames giving an indication of the age profile of this “elite executive”), the Upper Bann MP determined he would go back in power with the IRA’s front men. “ We have done our bit. Mr. Adams, it is over to you. We have jumped, you follow."
This was what I call Lemming political acumen. He jumped, but Adams did not follow! After plummeting for three months over the political cliff, Trimble declared that his party could no longer continue in government with Sinn Fein. This led to the suspension of the executive!
By May 2000, Trimble had bounced back in government with Sinn Fein/IRA after a complicated sequence of statements and deals led to him agreeing to return as the IRA allegedly opened up some of its arms dumps for independent inspection. Of course no one knew what was inspected, where it was inspected, or even why it was inspected. Just remember the deal that Trimble had signed up to in 1998 was supposed to have led to the complete decommissioning of the IRA arsenal by June 2001. Not even a bullet had been publicly handed over by that date. His political capital had been devastated by the IRA but the media preferred not to dwell on that detail. They needed their man in place.
My next meeting with David Trimble was after he had assumed the position of First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Bob McCartney and I met with him, the plan being to determine what his thinking was with regard to the developing political situation. David Trimble was accompanied in this meeting by the UUP Chief Whip, Jim Wilson. It was a very strange meeting. Bob was on his best behaviour and Trimble himself was fine, conversational though with an undeniable (and misplaced) sense of his having second-guessed “the Shinners” (Sinn Fein/IRA). But all the way through the meeting, Jim Wilson never spoke, never even looked at us but instead played with a small piece of silver paper he had rolled up in a little ball. He seemed pre-occupied with this game. We got nowhere with Trimble, as expected, but left having at least exchanged pleasantries and shaken hands. On the way along the corridor from Trimble’s office we looked at each other and asked the same question “What on earth was Wilson doing playing with that silver paper ball?” I concluded that perhaps he was trying to insult us by pretending we weren’t even worthy of a glance. Either that or he was just bonkers! It was a weird experience.
From that point on, I had no more patience for the UUP. That said, I remained friendly with a number of the younger and brighter Ulster Unionists such Peter Weir and Simon Hamilton. In the years ahead they, along with other younger talent, would bail out of the crumbling UUP and join the DUP.
In my local area I delighted in attacking them week in, weak out, through the press. The UUP in Upper Bann – Trimble apart – were sheer comedy. There was not one of them who could construct much more than one coherent sentence and I had great fun taunting them.
George Savage was my neighbour and also a prominent figure in the UUP. He had been elected to the Assembly on Trimble’s transfer votes in 1998. Now, even his best friends would accept that George is hardly a silver tongued cavalier. Not so much Oscar, more just wild! He is a farmer, and whilst I have every confidence in his ability to discern the front end from the rear end of a cow, when it comes to constitutional complexities, it’s probably best he goes to make the tea.
I had challenged any of the local Ulster Unionist MLA’s to a public debate, anywhere, anytime. The intrepid George finally was cornered into facing me at a local hall at a meeting hosted by the Loyal Orders. I fully prepared my speech and arrived all set for a verbal battle. I was quite happy for George gave his “speech” first. The thing is that it wasn’t really a speech - more a series of mumbles. He had no start, no middle and I think we weren’t even sure when he had ended. I put my speech away and ad-libbed because I genuinely felt sorry for him. I appreciate he was not First Division material but this was more Fourth Division. I can recall the huge sense of deflation – it was like pummelling a blancmange.
Not that it was just the local UUP I enjoyed having a go at. I was frequently in print in the National press and on-air and repeatedly referred to the UUP as “Vichy Unionists”. This seemed to annoy them and a highlight for me was when David Trimble made sarcastic reference to me in his speech at the UUP Annual Party Conference!
From my own political antennae on the ground, it was obvious that David Trimble’s shameful decision to sit in power with the likes of self-confessed IRA commander Martin McGuinness was received very badly. On the election trail in 2001, I don’t think I have ever encountered such hatred towards a politician as that I heard directed towards Mr Trimble. People came out on several occasions to berate me – thinking I was an Ulster Unionist! I can only imagine what it was like for the Trimble team. That said, he got himself re-elected - but this time with a diminished majority and a number of nationalists and republicans voting for him. But the writing was on the wall as Trimble ignored the anger of the unionist people and continued to preen across the political stage.
But it really was all coming to an end for the Trimble UUP. Between 2003 and 2005, even the media could not stop the constant stories of fractious in-fighting that characterised the Party. Trimble’s Torquemada was Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson. Jeffrey constantly badgered the Trimble position on power-sharing with terrorists and shows great principle at the time. I recall writing to him encouraging his stance and hoping that his view might prevail. The delicious irony was that but a few years later, Donaldson would have jumped ship, joined the DUP, and would be himself advocating sitting in power with Sinn Fein/IRA. I don’t believe any electorate like to see a divided Party – it certainly did for my old Party the UKUP, and I believe the schisms of these years also spelt the end for the UUP.
For years the MSM portrayed Trimble as a political colossus, who always came up smelling of roses. That bloom vanished in the aftermath of the 2005 General Election results. Where the UUP had 10 MP’s, they were now reduced to 1. This was a stunningly bad result – and Trimble lost his own seat! It was of course absolutely inevitable and even preventable but that would have required modesty and a collegiate approach to Party management. The scale of the wipe out was so great it made international news and even the MSM could no longer put a brave face on it for Trimble.
He resigned from the position he had held since 1995 blaming Tony Blair for “indulging Republicans.” This was true in as far as it went but it was not the complete story because Trimble himself had indulged Republicans, constantly thinking he knew better than them. He had become detached from the feelings of the pro-Union electorate, his Party had been turned into an ill-disciplined shambles, and in summary he had gambled away the UUP’s prime position within Unionism and gained nothing. The DUP had eclipsed his Party, a situation which was to continue further following the 2007 Assembly Election results.
He was replaced as Leader by Sir Reg Empey – a close ally during his years in power. Empey had also sat around the Executive table with IRA/Sinn Fein but by this time there was no fight left in the UUP to do anything different. It was to be more of the same and as I quipped in one interview, Sir Reg has proven his critics wrong and achieved the seemingly impossible - by making Trimble seem like an effective Leader! The UUP has become a creature of the Belfast Agreement, content to share political power with the representatives of an organisation that had cruelly murdered its own members. It had become morally hollowed out from within after almost ten years at the heart of the rotten peace process.
So, where now for the UUP? I honestly do not think it has a future. The DUP has successfully salami-sliced it from the political right, the Alliance Party has moved in to feed on the soft left. It is so slavishly pro-Agreement, so enthusiastic to power-share with terrorists, that it seems doomed to further diminution.
The UUP famously ran its disastrous 2005 election campaign on the slogan “Decent people vote Ulster Unionist” Not any more. It has no charismatic personalities, it has no unique political perspective, and in fact there is absolutely nothing about it that appeals. In all honesty, I think a few sensible souls within it must realise the end is nigh. I also suspect some vainly hope that the DUP will mess up in some way and that it can then be returned to power. This won’t be the case as by that time the UUP will be long gone from the political radar. Gone off the cliff one final time – they may jump - but no one cares
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Reader Comments (28)
just a point on constitutional complexities, the Republic changed Articles 2 and 3, not 1 and 2 as you state.
From this article I get the feeling you spent more time with and had a much better feel for the internal situation when talking about the DUP and UKIP than for the UUP.
This one is more historical analysis than incisive personal recollection compared to your first two. Obviously I might have thought differently if you found out why Wilson was rolling that ball.
I agree that it's hard to see a way back for the UUP now. Even if a dynamic new leader emerged (who?) what distinctive political ground could they hope to carve out for the party?
I think that in a few years the two unionist parties will merge. There will be no logic in them remaining separate, at least not after the DUP sheds its religious tint, which it will after the big man departs.
Thanks for that - I will amend. This is the rough version from the book.
SF and the SDLP stand for dismantling of the state and the ending of the Union.
Nine years on from 1998, this alleged *disaster* for the Union, Northern Ireland remains a part of the UK, those who swore to destroy it have completely disarmed and in effect now all parties take part in the self-government of this part of the UK. Both the supporters and *enemies* of the Northern Ireland state will participate in its government and administer its laws - British laws - from May 2007.
The agreement which has brought this about was supported in elections earlier this month at which all opposition to powersharing government (such as is voiced regularly on this site) was roundly and utterly defeated by the votes of the Northern ireland people.
Thanks for your comments. Nine years on, the DUP have become the UUP, I like the notion that the IRA is "completely diarmed". Got any details on that? When did the IRA Army Council step down.When did the IRA disband? Got any details for us so we may assess your pov?
Certainly,
The IRA have disarmed, not according to me, but according to the British government, the Irish government, all the main political parties in the UK and Ireland, independent observers who witnessed disarming first-hand, the US government, Geo Bush, Uncle Jo Cobbley and all.
But I digress from what is a good day for everyone in Northern Ireland bar you...
Oh and when you have a chance, perhaps you'll direct some energy into discovering where the 100,000 weapons illegally imported by your Unionist forefathers in 1912 and thereabouts, ended up.....take your time. :)
Maybe you did not understand my question. You suggsted that the IRA had "completely disarmed" - now to the best of my knowledge not even the "Independent witnesses" which the IRA nominated said that. I also would like to know when the IRA Army Council stood down. Neither the UK nor Irish Govt have said that, so I wondered how you knew? And any thoughts on when the IRA disbanded?
You, and the rest of the peace any price burlesque can cheer all you want. Today IS a day of shame, but not just for the gutless DUP. It is a day of shame for a society which looks on and applauds as terrorists enter Government. Your own inherent moral vacuum may be filled by this sickening site, I prefer to reflect on all the victims of IRA terrorism - sold out by the political whores in the DUP. Thank you for calling.
Noticed that the BEEB mentioned that Adams was wearing a pin commemeration the 1916 dead. That happened in another country if memory serves!
??? What invader... Charles, with respect, your understandings of NI history may be a little off the mark
The ROI is NOT invading NI, it has nothing bar an aspiration toward an whos peoples are united. Its not a land grab aspiration or anything of the sort
>>That happened in another country if memory serves!<<
Why shouldn't the ROI celebrate the people of 1916 Charles. Do you celebrate independence day every year ?
That being said, if one comes from the perspective that NI is a part of Great Britian, and not the ROI, it seems funny to me that someone such as Adams, who does not profess allegience to HM, sits as a representitive over some of her subjects.
As to 1916, yes the people of the ROI should celebrate the hell out of it , but a (rogue)minister of one of HM parliements? I think not.
Also, isn't SF a political party in the ROI? So it's an international party, operating in 2 countries? (Not to mention venezula and columbia, another story altogether).
All this very hard to understand! :)
Charles,
Irish history is anything but straightforward :)
>>As to 1916, yes the people of the ROI should celebrate the hell out of it , but a (rogue)minister of one of HM parliements? I think not.<As to 1916, yes the people of the ROI should celebrate the hell out of it , but a (rogue)minister of one of HM parliements? I think not.<<
This years commemoration of 1916 was all about the Irish government/people taking it back from the likes of Sinn Fein etc.
..and are there no other victims David?
Further, you assume that all victims and their relatives think about today as you and others here do.
Most emphatically, they DO NOT.
A revealing comment - thanks for making it.
Educating you is one of my more charitable activities. It is the IRA who enter Government on May 8th - or had you not noticed. Perhaps you also had not noticed my absolute condemnation of the 1.2m gifted to the UDA. (In print in the Newsletter yesterday)
When I hear peace processors like yourself pretending that you CARE so very much for the victims of terrorism, it makes me laugh. YOU supported the release of convicted murderers from prison, YOU support the installation of terror godfathers in Government. These are absolute wrongs, I'm afraid. So clap your hands at the elevation of terror and the defeat of decency. You aren't alone in your immorality but you also cannot claim the high moral ground when in fact - as with all peace processors - your morality is in the sewer.
The lemming has been smeared by the Walt Disney company their White Wildness documentary from the 1950s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming#Suicide_myth
I am equally delighted to educate you in how to recognise a terrorist, even if they happen to be people from a Unionist background who committed treason and in so doing, helped found the state of Northern Ireland in the first place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larne_Gun_Running
In terms of terrorists at the heart of government, I'll nominate Wilfrid Spender (first head of the Civil Service and UVF Commander) as a Unionist precedent for the elected SF politicians who now find themselves administering British law.
Why don't I see as many articles here about Mr Spender as Mr McGuinness? :)
There was a young lady from Riga
who went for a ride on a tiger.
They came back from the ride
with the lady inside
and a smile on the face of the tiger
You love it here, don't you?
I see your point, we have an IRA commander about to enter government and you want to talk about....Wilfred Spender. Got any details on his track record of killing to share? Did he come from Claudy by chance? Might he have been up to his neck in the death of innocents.Are you suggesting that he and McGuinness are equivalents. Did he like the idea of strapping a man to the steering wheel of a vehicle and then detonating it remotely? Mmm...Wilfred Spender, the terrorist of all terrorists.
Let me try another line. Just admit you are morally bankrupt and you think we all should be the same. Accept that just because you see no issue with killers, bombers and gunmen in Government, we should all share this view? Go on - make the first step.
Well spotted. Thought of a job in the civil service?
that pertaining to wild birds. It languished almost apolitically in command of all it surveyed and its current demise is an inevitable outworking of a long period of earlier political atrophy.
The party also did its best to wipe out constructive opposition such as the small Northern Ireland Labour Party by playing the Orange card at every turn and by abolishing PR for local elections.
It also committed a monumental error of political judgement by failing to stay in step with Britain
on the issue of local franchise reform after WW2. This later gifted the Civil Rights movement and Nationalism its most effective rallying slogan -"One Man One Vote". Ironically the early Civil Rights movement marched behind a banner reading "British Rights for British Citizens in Northern Ireland".
The UUP made little or no attempt to win over Catholic support.The institutional links with the Orange Order persist.
In the 80's the UUP along with the rest of the party political "Unionist Family" firmly rejected the widely-popular demand for the extension of mainstream British party politics into Northern Ireland. Robert McCartney was expelled from the party for standing against James Kilfedder in the General Election of 1987.Kilfedder was not even a member of the UUP and had dismissed mainstream class-based party politics for Northern Ireland. "We don't want that sort of thing over here", he informed a Labour researcher in the 80's. The UUP also profligately expelled the bulk of its North Down branch for supporting McCartney and the Campaign for Equal Citizenship.
The UUP was content that the people of Northern Ireland should remain banned from joining and voting for the national parties that actually governed them.
The UUP is now in the humiliating and unprecedented position of having a leader who does not hold a Westminster seat and the sole MP they do have is an increasingly vocal critic of the leadership. One would not be at all surprised if she went over to Alliance.
In the recent Assembly election the UUP's voite management strategy was a shambles. The party just never seems to learn from the good practice of others never mind its own follies.The DUP and SF used sitting MP's as standard bearers in the multi-seat Assembly onstituencies.Most(if not all) topped the poll and broughtv in others on surplus. In North Down the UUP did not even run the sitting MP Ldy Sylvia Hermon and thus threw away a very-winnable third seat.
Sothe Belfast was another glaring disaster. in addition how many women candidates were stood? Answer-one -in the criminally mis-managed North Down.
The party made no effort to appeal to Catholics;the Orange persists. The only legislation that the Nationalists were able to amend was that pertaining to wild birds in the 40's. The scandal of gerrymandering and housing allocation is well-documented.
The UUP refused to keep in step with Britain after WW2
in terms of local government.The monumental error of political judgement gifted the Civil Rights movement and later militant Republicanism with its most effective rallying cry ie One Man One Vote.
Ironically the early Civil Righters walked behind a banner which read "British Rights For British Citizens in Northern Ireland".
By the 80's the party rejected the widely-supported cross-community demand for the Mainstream British political parties to open thier ranks to people in Northern Ireland and to seek votes in this region of the state; a very reasonable civil rights demand one would have thought. However, the UUP and the rest of "Unionist Family" - as they then provincially and communally dubbed themselves united against the Campaign for Equal Citizenship. The UUP
political failure causes violence and violence causes further political failures,and so the the vicious cycle goes.this incriminates both sides and leaves everyone blood-spattered.sinn fein were elected,simple as that,and so unionists have to suck it up and accept they can't choose who nationalists/republicans choose to represent them.
of course this new executive is an uncomfortably bitter pill to swallow for both sides,but if you think there is something better on the table you are sadly deluded.the only way this sorry scenario is ever going to be moved along is by pushing the fundamentalists into the middle by putting them at the head of the table sharing power, and stroking their fat egos along the way.and if you're unhappy this is the case, it's because unionism's selfish, inconsiderate and negative attitude down the years forced many mild mannered nationalists into supporting sinn fein.
in other words,"yees made yer bed,now lie in it"!
Have you a degree in philosophy perchance?
My pleasure. There is nothing like well informed criticism and you are the very personification of this.
Question 2 The DUP leader stated that over 90% of the DUP executive approved of the deal to share power with IRA/SF. Did the DUP executive know that the party leadership was being blackmailed?