Eric Smyth | |
---|---|
Member of Belfast City Council | |
In office 15 May 1985 –5 May 2005 | |
Preceded by | District created |
Succeeded by | Diane Dodds |
Constituency | Court |
In office 20 May 1981 –15 May 1985 | |
Preceded by | Harry Fletcher |
Succeeded by | District abolished |
Constituency | Belfast Area F |
Member of the Northern Ireland Forum | |
In office 30 May 1996 –25 April 1998 | |
Constituency | Top-up list |
Personal details | |
Born | Belfast,Northern Ireland |
Political party | Traditional Unionist Voice (since 2007) |
Other political affiliations | Democratic Unionist Party (1971 - 2007) |
Eric Smyth is a Northern Irish Unionist politician and Presbyterian minister.
Smyth was first elected to Belfast City Council for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in 1981,representing 'Area F' which was equivalent to the modern wards of Falls,Clonard,Blackstaff and Shaftesbury. [1]
However,Area F was abolished in 1985,and Smyth moved to the Court district electoral area which covered the Greater Shankill area. He was elected and held his seat at each subsequent election. [2]
In the 1990s,Smyth's two sons were jailed on drugs charges. Following this,he spent considerable time campaigning against drugs,and in 2003 joined European Cities Against Drugs. [3] In 1995-96,he served as Lord Mayor of Belfast,and during his term of office,he formally welcomed Bill Clinton on a visit to Belfast. [4]
At the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996,Smyth stood in West Belfast,but was unsuccessful in the heavily republican constituency. The list he headed won only 4.2% of the votes cast. [5] However,he was indirectly elected,as being placed seventh on the DUP's regional list ultimately enabled him to take one of the party's two "top-up" seats. [6]
In September 1996,Smyth announced "I have started my boycott. I will not shop in any Catholic shop". He also claimed that "the President [Bill Clinton] stands for republicanism and is a supporter of it". [7] He reversed his boycott call a week later,describing his statement as "a bit hasty". [8]
At the 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election,Smyth stood in Belfast East,but was not elected. [9] In the 2001 general election,he stood for the Westminster seat of West Belfast,but was again unsuccessful,taking 6.4% of the vote. [10]
In 2000,Smyth quit the DUP after he failed to win the party's nomination for the Lord Mayoralty. [11] He was persuaded to return, [12] but in 2003,he again announced that he was standing down as a councillor,in order to concentrate on his religious work. The following year,he decided to continue, [13]
He then stood for the Lord Mayoralty again,but was beaten by the Alliance Party's Tom Ekin on the casting vote of Martin Morgan,the previous year's Lord Mayor. Smyth stood for election as the Deputy Lord Mayor but was defeated by Joe O'Donnell of Sinn Féin,this time on the casting vote of Ekin. Following this defeat,reports claim that he told Ekin "your hands are covered in blood,you shameless traitor". [14] Despite his strong opposition to Sinn Féin,Smyth disregarded the DUP's policy stating that its members should have no contact with the group. [12]
Smyth again announced that he was standing down as a councillor in December 2004,on this occasion in an interview in which he made some criticisms of Ian Paisley's leadership of the DUP,and in particular the placement of some former members of the Ulster Unionist Party in prominent party roles. [12] He did not stand for re-election in 2005,and he instead focussed on his role as founder and Reverend of the Jesus Saves Mission Church,closely aligned with the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. [15]
He left the DUP,and gave an interview in which he claimed that the unionist community on the Shankill Road did not want loyalist paramilitaries to give up their weapons. [16]
In 2007,Smyth spoke out against the DUP's implementation of the St Andrews Agreement. Following Paisley's agreement to stand down as Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church,he stated that Paisley "has gone back on everything he ever preached and there was no way he could continue as leader although I do think he should have stood down years ago." [17]
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley,Baron Bannside,was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist,loyalist,British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley,who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson,who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing and socially conservative,being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.
Nigel Alexander Dodds,Baron Dodds of Duncairn,,is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister serving as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the House of Lords since 2021. He previously served as deputy leader of the DUP from 2008 to 2021 and leader of the DUP in the House of Commons from 2010 to 2019.
Robert Thomas William McCrea,Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician,Christian singer and retired Free Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland. As a politician,he represented South Antrim and Mid Ulster as their Member of Parliament (MP),representing Mid Ulster from 1983 to 1997;then South Antrim between 2000 and 2001,and then again from 2005 to 2015.
James Hugh Allister is a Northern Irish politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster,Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim,having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.
Belfast North is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is John Finucane.
Alasdair McDonnell is a retired Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland who was leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2011 to 2015,having served as deputy leader between 2004 and 2010. He was the Member of Parliament for Belfast South from 2005 to 2017,and also a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 1998 to 2015. He graduated from medical school at University College Dublin in 1974.
Alex Maskey is an Irish former politician who served as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2020 to 2024 and was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2002 to 2003. He was Sinn Féin's longest sitting councillor,representing the Laganbank electoral area of Belfast. He was also an MLA for Belfast West for two periods,and also for Belfast South. He reportedly retired "from frontline politics" in early 2024.
Frank McCoubrey is a Northern Irish unionist politician and Ulster Loyalist,as well as a community activist and researcher. McCoubrey is a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA since 1997,sitting as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member since 2012. He is a leading member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG). McCoubrey is a native of Highfield,Belfast.
The Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1982 represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to restore the devolution to Northern Ireland which had been suspended 10 years previously. The Assembly was dissolved in 1986.
Hugh Smyth OBE was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who was leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 1979 to 2002,as well as during an interim period in 2011. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1994 to 1995,as well as a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA from 1972 to January 2014,making him one of the longest-serving members on the Council. Smyth was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year's Honours list.
The 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday,7 March 2007. It was the third election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties,the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin,along with the Alliance Party,increase their support,with falls in support for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
Ulster Protestant Action (UPA) was an Ulster loyalist political party and Protestant fundamentalist vigilante group in Northern Ireland that was founded in 1956 and re-formed as the Protestant Unionist Party in 1966.
The Belfast South by-election was held on 4 March 1982 following the death of Robert Bradford,Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament for Belfast South.
Clifford Smyth is a Northern Irish historian and former unionist politician.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland occurred on 6 May 2010 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,169,184 people were eligible to vote,up 29,191 from the 2005 general election. 57.99% of eligible voters turned out,down 5.5 percentage points from the last general election.
Kenneth Gibson was a Northern Irish politician who was the Chairman of the Volunteer Political Party (VPP),which he had helped to form in 1974. He also served as a spokesman and Chief of Staff of the loyalist paramilitary organisation,the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 5 May 2005 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,139,993 people were eligible to vote,down 51,016 from the 2001 general election. 63.49% of eligible voters turned out,down 5.1 percentage points from the last general election.
William Dickson,known as Billy Dickson,is a Northern Irish unionist politician and Belfast tour guide who was a Belfast City Councillor for Belfast Area F from 1977 to 1985,and then for Balmoral from 1985 to 1989.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 7 May 2015 and all 18 seats were contested. 1,236,765 people were eligible to vote,up 67,581 from the 2010 general election. 58.45% of eligible voters turned out,an increase of half a percentage point from the last general election. This election saw the return of Ulster Unionists to the House of Commons,after they targeted 4 seats but secured 2.