Hugh Ross | |
---|---|
Leader of the Ulster Independence Movement | |
In office 17 November 1988 –January 2000 | |
Preceded by | Party founded |
Succeeded by | Party dissolved |
Personal details | |
Born | 1944 (age 79–80) Dungannon,County Tyrone,Northern Ireland |
Political party | Ulster Independence Movement (1988–2000) |
Hugh Ross (born c. 1944 [1] ) is an Ulster nationalist politician,Presbyterian minister and member of the Orange Order,who was previously the leader of the now defunct Ulster Independence Movement (UIM).
Ross began his political involvement with the Ulster Clubs which emerged in the 1980s to galvanise opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement and appeared on the BBC's local news programme in August 1986 to launch an attack on cross-border co-operation. [2] Eventually the UIM developed out of this group and Ross became leader of the main avowedly Ulster nationalist organisation in Northern Ireland's history.
Ross enjoyed relatively high vote shares as a candidate at both the Upper Bann by-election of 1990 and the 1994 European elections. He headed the list for the UIM at the 1996 elections for the Northern Ireland Forum (a precursor to the Northern Ireland Assembly) although he failed to get elected and has since largely left politics,emerging from time to time to write articles for the Ulster Third Way journal,Ulster Nation.
As a member of the Orange Order,Rev Ross was also involved in the difficulties over the march to Drumcree Church and addressed rallies of Order supporters in the area. [3]
Ross' retirement from the political scene was in part caused by accusations in a Channel 4 documentary that he was part of a committee which oversaw collusion between the Royal Ulster Constabulary and loyalists. [4]
The programme and resulting book claimed that the Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee (ULCCC),an umbrella group for loyalist paramilitary organisations that had been refounded in 1991 actually acted as a co-ordination body between a number of leading community figures including Ross,Ulster Bank chief Billy Abernethy with elements of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and loyalist gunmen such as Billy Wright with the aim of identifying targets. One of the leading sources for the book was Jim Sands,a UIM member who served as assistant to Ross. [5] Sands claimed that Ross was a leading member of the ULCCC and thus had an input in deciding the targets of loyalist terror groups. [6] Sands further claimed that Ross believed in a militantly violent path to Ulster nationalism and claimed in a 1991 interview that Ross aimed to form a symbiotic relationship between the UIM and Ulster Resistance in the style of Sinn Féin and the Provisional Irish Republican Army. [7] Other UIM activists were implicated in the allegations,such as Nelson McCausland,whilst Abernethy was a supporter having signed the nomination papers for Ross's candidacy in Upper Bann. [8]
In response to the initial broadcast Ross appeared on the Channel 4 programme Right to Reply . During the show Ross argued that he had no links to paramilitaries or the 'Inner Force' of the RUC and added that clips shown of him speaking had been taken out of context and amounted to only a few minutes from an interview that lasted a few hours. He further added that he had only agreed to work with the Committee's makers as he felt it was an opportunity to promote his largely unknown political party. [9] Ross was accompanied to the studio by David Trimble and it was later alleged that the two had a close relationship,founded on their mutual interest in Ulster nationalism (it being claimed that after his spell in the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party Trimble had been involved in authoring the pro-independence booklet Beyond the Religious Divide,produced by the New Ulster Political Research Group in 1977). [10]
Following the Right to Reply appearance Ross sent a letter to the producers of the Committee threatening them with a defamation suit,although ultimately nothing came of this. [11] Sands would later claim that his evidence regarding UIM involvement in any conspiracy had been a hoax. [12] Despite this Ross was photographed in July 1995 at what was purported to be ULCCC meeting in attendance with Abernethy and Alex Kerr,an associate of Billy Wright. [13]
Ultimately the allegations remained unproven,but the incident damaged Ross's reputation and saw membership of the UIM dwindle. The group disappeared after the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum elections and Ross took no further part in politics.
William David Trimble,Baron Trimble,was a Northern Irish politician who was the inaugural First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002,and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005 and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 1998 to 2007.
Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists,loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom,and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism,loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions,while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state,believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them. The term 'loyalism' is usually associated with paramilitarism.
The Ulster Independence Movement was an Ulster nationalist political party founded on 17 November 1988. The group emerged from the Ulster Clubs,after a series of 15 public meetings across Northern Ireland. Led by Hugh Ross,a Presbyterian minister from Dungannon,County Tyrone,the UIC sought to end what it saw as the tyranny of rule from London and instead set up an independent Northern Ireland.
The Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee (ULCCC) was set up in 1974 in Belfast,Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the Ulster Workers Council Strike,to facilitate meetings and policy coordination between the Ulster Workers Council,loyalist paramilitary groups,and the political representatives of Ulster loyalism.
The Ulster Workers' Council was a loyalist workers' organisation set up in Northern Ireland in 1974 as a more formalised successor to the Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW). It was formed by shipyard union leader Harry Murray and initially failed to gain much attention. However,with the full support of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) the UWC became the main mobilising force for loyalist opposition to power-sharing arrangements.
The Ulster Clubs was the name given to a network of Unionist organisations founded in Northern Ireland in November 1985. Emerging from an earlier group based in Portadown,the Ulster Clubs briefly mobilised wide support across Northern Ireland and sought to coordinate opposition to the development of closer relations between the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The group's motto was "hope for the best and prepare for the worst".
The Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW) was a militant unionist organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the loyalist cause. It became notorious for a one-day strike in 1973 that ended in widespread violence.
Gary McMichael is a Northern Ireland community activist,and retired politician. He was the leader of the short-lived Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) during the Northern Ireland peace process,and was instrumental in organizing the Loyalist ceasefire in the Troubles in 1994.
Ulster Resistance (UR),or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM),is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland in November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Troubles.
William McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's Glennane gang in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996. On his release he worked as a loyalist and Orange Order activist until his death in 2006.
Mark Fulton was a Northern Irish loyalist. He was the leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF),having taken over its command following the assassination of Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in 1997 by members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
Alex Kerr is a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. Kerr was a brigadier in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)'s South Belfast Brigade. He is no longer active in loyalism.
Clifford Peeples is a self-styled pastor in Northern Ireland who has been associated with Ulster loyalism,for which he was convicted of terrorist activity and imprisoned. Peeples has been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF),the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) prisoners' spokesman and leader of the Orange Volunteers (OV). He has taken a prominent role in opposing the Northern Ireland Protocol in the courts.
Robert John "R. J." Kerr,was a leading Northern Irish loyalist. He served as the commander of the Portadown battalion of the Ulster Defence Association's Mid-Ulster Brigade. Along with the Mid-Ulster Ulster Volunteer Force's brigade commander Robin Jackson,Kerr was implicated in the killing of Catholic chemist William Strathearn. Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Patrol Group officers John Weir and Billy McCaughey named him as one of their accomplice;however,neither Kerr nor Jackson were questioned by police or brought before the court,for "reasons of operational strategy". Weir and McCaughey were convicted of Strathearn's killing.
Kenneth Jason Kerr is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading figure within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and its political wing,the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party. He was also central to a series of allegations regarding collusion between the British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.
Down Orange Welfare was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary vigilante group active in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Operating in rural areas of County Down,the group faded after failing to win support away from larger groups such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
The Ulster Service Corps (USC) was a loyalist vigilante group with a paramilitary structure active in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s. Although short-lived it briefly had a sizeable membership. One of a number of small independent loyalist paramilitary groups active in the mid 1970s,alongside the Orange Volunteers,Ulster Volunteer Service Corps,Down Orange Welfare and the Ulster Special Constabulary Association (USCA),the USC was the largest of these minor groups.
The Ulster Volunteer Service Corps (UVSC) was an Ulster loyalist vigilante and paramilitary movement active in Northern Ireland during the early 1970s. Initially the steward group for the Ulster Vanguard,under the title Vanguard Service Corps,it continued to exist after becoming independent of that movement.
James Mitchell was an Ulster loyalist and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Reserve officer who provided a base and storage depot for the Glenanne gang at his farm at Glenanne,near Mountnorris,County Armagh,during the Troubles. The gang,which contained over 40 known members,included soldiers of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),officers of the RUC,the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the illegal paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and some Ulster Defence Association (UDA) members.
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