Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or simply the Unionist Party ) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland, and was the party of government in Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. Until 2003 it was the largest party, but it has been overtaken by the Democratic Unionist Party.

Stormont Parliament

Until almost the very end of its period of power in Northern Ireland the UUP was led by a combination of landed gentry (Sir Basil Brooke , Terence O'Neill and James Chichester-Clark) and gentrified industrial magnates (Sir James Craig later Lord Craigavon, and John Miller Andrews). Only its last Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner was from a middle-class background.

Related Topics:
Northern Ireland - Landed gentry - Basil Brooke - Terence O'Neill - James Chichester-Clark - Sir James Craig - Lord Craigavon - John Miller Andrews - Prime Minister - Brian Faulkner

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In 1922, Sir Edward Carson warned the new unionist leadership of Northern Ireland against practicing any discrimination towards the Catholic minority in the region. It was advice that went unheeded. As former leader and Nobel Peace Prize co-winner (with the SDLP's then leader, John Hume) David Trimble observed, Northern Ireland under the UUP governments was a "cold house for Catholics." In the 1960s, inspired by the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King and by attempts at reform under then UUP leader Terence O'Neill (later Lord O'Neill of the Maine) nationalists in the Northern Civil Rights Movement campaigned for reform. However violent opposition from extreme loyalists and right-wing campaigners like the Ian Paisley, coupled with the heavy-handled behaviour of the British army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary, led to a resurgence in violence by the Provisional IRA, a breakaway from the more Marxist Official IRA. Faced with what seemed like a threat of civil war, the British government ended the UUP's hold on power in Northern Ireland, when it prorogued the Stormont Parliament in March 1972.

Related Topics:
1922 - Catholic - Nobel Peace Prize - SDLP - John Hume - David Trimble - 1960s - Civil rights - Martin Luther King - Terence O'Neill - Loyalist - Ian Paisley - British army - Royal Ulster Constabulary - Provisional IRA - Marxist - Official IRA - British government - 1972

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Some liberal Unionists, who had advocated the policies of Terence O'Neill left and joined the Alliance Party, while the emergence of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) drew off working class and right-wing support. A more militant wing of the UUP turned to the Vanguard movement to steer unionism back to its "traditional" course. When this failed, they broke away and formed the separate Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party.

Related Topics:
Terence O'Neill - Alliance Party - Ian Paisley - Democratic Unionist Party - Vanguard

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Throughout this period the party was affiliated to the National Union of the Conservative Party and Ulster Unionist MPs at the Westminster Parliament were a part of the conservative block. To all intents and purposes the party functioned as the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservatives. (The names were different, but in the same period the Scottish branch of the party used the term "Unionist" instead of Conservative as well.) In 1974 in protest over the Sunningdale Agreement the Westminster Ulster Unionist MPs ceased to take the Conservative party whip. The party remained affiliated to the National Union but withdrew in 1985 in protest over the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Subsequently the Conservative Party established a separate branch in Northern Ireland which has had little electoral success. There is frequent speculation that the Ulster Unionists may one day reunite with the Conservative Party, as the party has continued to support the Conservatives on essential votes. For example, Ulster Unionist support was necessary to sustain the Conservative Government of Prime Minister John Major during the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 when many of his own MPs (the Maastricht Rebels) revolted. Many commentators felt this gave the UUP much influence on Major's Northern Ireland policy at the time.

Related Topics:
National Union - Conservative Party - Conservative - Scottish - 1974 - Sunningdale Agreement - 1985 - Anglo-Irish Agreement - John Major - Maastricht Treaty - 1993 - Maastricht Rebels

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