William McCrea (politician)

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The Reverend Doctor
William McCrea
Member of Parliament
for South Antrim
In office
5 May 2005 –30 March 2015
Preceded by David Burnside
Succeeded by Danny Kinahan
In office
21 September 2000 –14 May 2001
Preceded by Clifford Forsythe
Succeeded by David Burnside
Member of Parliament
for Mid Ulster
In office
9 June 1983 –1 May 1997
Preceded by John Dunlop
Succeeded by Martin McGuinness
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for South Antrim
In office
7 March 2007  –1 July 2010 (resigned)
Preceded by multiple members
Succeeded by Paul Girvan
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Mid-Ulster
In office
25 June 1998  – 7 March 2007
Preceded by Office created
Succeeded by multiple members
Personal details
Born (1948-08-06) 6 August 1948 (age 69)
Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Nationality British
Political party Democratic Unionist Party
Children 5
Residence Magherafelt, County Londonderry
Alma mater Raveanhill Theological Hall
Profession Clergyman
Website William McCrea

Robert Thomas William McCrea (born 6 August 1948) is a Free Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland. [1] A former Democratic Unionist Party politician, he represented South Antrim and Mid Ulster as their Member of Parliament. [2]

Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster

The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster is a Christian denomination founded by Ian Paisley in 1951. Doctrinally, the church describes itself as fundamentalist, evangelical, and separatist. Most of its members live in Northern Ireland, where the church is headquartered. The church has additional congregations in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and Australia, and a sister denomination in North America that has congregations in Canada and the United States. It also has a sister denomination in Nepal which was formed from the Nepal mission to the Unreached in November 2013.

Northern Ireland Part of the United Kingdom lying in the north-east of the island of Ireland, created 1921

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments".

Democratic Unionist Party Political unionist party of Northern Ireland

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. Ian Paisley founded the DUP in 1971, during the Troubles, and led the party for the next 37 years. Now led by Arlene Foster, it is equal with Sinn Féin in having the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and it is the sixth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Following the 2017 general election, the party agreed to support a Conservative minority government on a case-by-case basis on matters of mutual concern.

Contents

Early life and education

McCrea was the youngest of five children born to Robert Thomas (a famer in Stewartstown, Northern Ireland) and Sarah Jayne in August 1948. [3] He was educated in Magherafelt and spent a short time working in Social Security in the Civil Service of Northern Ireland before beginning training as a Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster minister. He undertook this training at Ravenhill Theological Hall, on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast.

Stewartstown, County Tyrone village in United Kingdom

Stewartstown is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, close to Lough Neagh and about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Cookstown, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Coalisland and 7 miles (11 km) from Dungannon. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 608 people.

Magherafelt town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Magherafelt is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,372 at the 2001 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, economic and political hub of the area. It is part of Mid-Ulster District.

Minister (Christianity) religious occupation in Christianity

In Christianity, a minister is a person authorized by a church, or other religious organization, to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister, which itself was derived from minus ("less").

McCrea received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Mariette Bible College, Ohio, United States. [4]

Ohio State of the United States of America

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.

Career

McCrea was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member of Magherafelt District Council from its creation in 1973 until he stood down to concentrate on Westminster duties in 2010, and topped the poll in every local government election he contested from 1973–2005.

Magherafelt District Council administrative territorial entity of the United Kingdom

Magherafelt District Council was a district council in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It was merged with Cookstown District Council and Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland becoming Mid-Ulster District Council.

He ran unsuccessfully for the House of Commons in the 1982 Belfast South by-election. He was Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster from 1983 but lost this seat to Sinn Féin chief negotiator and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at the 1997 election. He took South Antrim at a by-election in 2000 caused by the death of Ulster Unionist Party MP, Clifford Forsythe, but failed to retain this seat at the 2001 election. In the 2005 election he regained the seat. He was subsequently defeated by the Ulster Unionist Party in 2015.

House of Commons of the United Kingdom Lower house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

The House of Commons, officially the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster. Owing to shortage of space, its office accommodation extends into Portcullis House.

Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Mid Ulster is a parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons.

Sinn Féin is a left-wing Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In 1996 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for Mid-Ulster. [5] From 1998 to 2007 he was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster. He was therefore a political representative for two separate constituencies (Mid Ulster and South Antrim) from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2007.

Northern Ireland Forum Provisional forum for the N. Ireland peace process

The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Mid Ulster (Assembly constituency) Northern Ireland Assembly constituency

Mid Ulster is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

At the 2007 election, he was elected as an Assembly Member for South Antrim. He resigned from the Assembly in 2010, following his return to Westminster at the general election of that year. [6]

He is also the minister of Magherafelt Free Presbyterian Church and has made numerous gospel albums.

Controversy and paramilitary associations

McCrea was a member of the Shankill Defence Association and in 1971 he was convicted of riotous behaviour in Dungiven. [7] [8] In 1975 he led a prayer service at the paramilitary funerals of Wesley Somerville and Harris Boyle. The two terrorists were part of the Glenanne gang which carried out the Miami Showband killings and were accidentally blown up when the bomb they were planting in the band's minibus went off prematurely, killing them instantly. [8] McCrea was the target of a parcel bomb to his home on 9 August 1988, when a package sent by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation was disarmed. McCrea had become suspicious when he noticed the package had a Dublin postmark. [9]

McCrea was criticised when he appeared on a platform at a Portadown rally in support of the senior Ulster loyalist paramilitary Billy Wright, who had been threatened by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) leadership, in September 1996. [10] [11] [12] [13] Wright was the founder and leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (which had broken away from the UVF), and had been threatened after he broke the UVF ceasefire by ordering the death of Catholic civilian Michael McGoldrick. [14] [15]

In 2000, McCrea was the subject of an early day motion by two MPs, Harry Barnes and Sir Peter Bottomley. The motion referenced a claim that McCrea had visited Wright's successor as LVF leader in order to persuade the LVF not to decommission any of its weapons. [16]

Call for British airstrikes against Irish towns

A Northern Ireland Office memo released under the thirty-year rule in December 2014 revealed that McCrea had called for the Royal Air Force to carry out "strikes against Dundalk, Drogheda, Crossmaglen and Carrickmore" at the DUP's annual conference in April 1986. [17]

Alternative medicine

McCrea is a supporter of homeopathy, having signed several early day motions in support of its continued funding on the National Health Service, sponsored by Conservative MP David Tredinnick. [18]

Related Research Articles

Loyalist Volunteer Force Former Ulster loyalist paramilitary group

The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. They had belonged to the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade and Wright had been the brigade's commander. In a two-year period from August 1996, the LVF waged a paramilitary campaign with the stated goal of combatting Irish republicanism. During this time it killed at least 14 people in gun and bomb attacks. Almost all of its victims were Catholic civilians who were killed at random. The LVF called off its campaign in August 1998 and decommissioned some of its weapons, but in the early 2000s a loyalist feud led to a number of killings. Since then, the LVF has been largely inactive, but its members are believed to have been involved in rioting and organized crime. In 2015, the security forces stated that the LVF "exists only as a criminal group" in Mid-Ulster and Antrim.

Billy "King Rat" Wright was a prominent Ulster loyalist leader during the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. He joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1975. After spending several years in prison and becoming a born again Christian, Wright resumed his UVF activities and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade in the early 1990s, taking over from Robin "the Jackal" Jackson. According to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Wright was involved in the sectarian killings of up to 20 Catholics, although he was never convicted for any. It has been alleged that Wright, like his predecessor, was an agent of the RUC Special Branch.

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References

  1. ↑ Walker, Stephen. "MPs call on government to secure NI air routes". BBC News. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Profile: William McCrea MP".
  3. ↑ Porter, David; McCrea, William (December 1980). In His Pathway: Story of William McCrea. Lakeland Publishing.
  4. ↑ Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office (2003-11-26). "William McCrea". Northern Ireland Assembly. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  5. ↑ Northern Ireland elections
  6. ↑ Girvan makes Stormont return, Newtownabbey Times, 8 July 2010
  7. ↑ Moloney, Ed (2008). Paisley. Poolbeg Press. p. 185. ISBN   978-1-84223-324-5.
  8. 1 2 Newton Emerson (12 August 2006). "Reg warns of violence". Irish News. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
  9. ↑ Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p. 310
  10. ↑ Nicholas Watt (2010-09-14). "Why does Ian Paisley's party show such interest in a mass murderer? | Politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  11. ↑ Gerry Moriarty (2016-04-08). "McCrea defends show of support for Wright". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  12. ↑ "McCrea challenged to clarify relationship with loyalist murderer". An Phoblacht. 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  13. ↑ Martin Dillon (2014-06-23). "God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism". Google Books. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  14. ↑ "The Billy Wright Inquiry Oral Hearings". Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. 2010-12-10. Archived from the original on 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  15. ↑ Neil Root & Ian Hitchings (2011-04-04). "Who Killed Rosemary Nelson?: At last, the full story of the conspiracy". Google Books. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  16. ↑ http://www.private-eye.co.uk/issue-1471/hp-sauce
  17. ↑ Adrian Rutherford (29 December 2014). "State papers: DUP MP William McCrea wanted air strikes launched on the Republic in the 1980s". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  18. ↑ Tredinnick, David (29 June 2010). "Early Day Motion #284 British Medical Association Motions on Homeopathy".
Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)
New assembly MPA for Mid-Ulster
1982–1986		Assembly abolished
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Dunlop 		MP for Mid Ulster
1983 – 1997 		Succeeded by
Martin McGuinness
Preceded by
Clifford Forsythe 		MP for South Antrim
2000 – 2001 		Succeeded by
David Burnside
Preceded by
David Burnside 		MP for South Antrim
2005 – 2015 		Succeeded by
Danny Kinahan
Northern Ireland Forum
New forum Member for Mid-Ulster
1996–1998		Forum dissolved
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly MLA for Mid-Ulster
1998–2007		Succeeded by
multiple members
Preceded by
multiple members 		MLA for South Antrim
2007–2010		Succeeded by
Paul Girvan


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