David Calvert | |
|---|---|
| Member of Craigavon Borough Council | |
| In office 15 May 1985 –17 May 1989 | |
| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Ruth Allen |
| Constituency | Craigavon |
| In office 30 May 1973 –15 May 1985 | |
| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Constituency | Craigavon Area D |
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Armagh | |
| In office 20 October 1982 –1986 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1946 County Armagh,Northern Ireland |
| Political party | Traditional Unionist Voice (since 2007) Democratic Unionist (1971 - 1993) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent Unionist (2001 - 2007) |
David Calvert (born 1946) is a Northern Irish unionist politician. He worked as a director of a family shirt manufacturing company. He was a founder member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in County Armagh. [1]
He was elected to Craigavon Borough Council in 1973, [2] and held his seat until he stood down in 1989. [3]
He stood for the party in Fermanagh and South Tyrone at the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention election in 1975,but was not elected. [4]
He then moved to Armagh,which he contested at the 1979 UK general election,but took only 8.6% of the vote. [5]
In the early 1980s,Calvert was Deputy Chairman of the DUP, [6] and in the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election,he won a seat. [5] In 1987,he was seriously injured in an assassination attempt on his life by the Irish National Liberation Army,but recovered fully. [7] The INLA had also tried to kill him in 1981. [8] He fell out with the DUP in 1993,in a dispute over candidate selection,and was expelled from the party. [9]
Calvert stood as an independent candidate in Craigavon at the 2001 local elections,and narrowly missed taking a seat. He stood again in 2005,without success. [10] In 2006,he attended a meeting of critics of the Belfast Agreement,addressed by Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party, [9] but at the 2007 Assembly election he stood as an independent again,this time in Upper Bann,taking 3.1% of the vote. [11]
Following the elections,Calvert joined Traditional Unionist Voice,and stood for the party in a by-election to Craigavon Borough Council in January 2010,taking a distant second place. [12]