James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead

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James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead , KBE , PC (born August 27, 1920 in Killead , County Antrim , † March 9, 2015 ) was a Northern Irish unionist , politician and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1979 to 1995 He was a senior member and former vice -president of the Conservative Monday Club . He was a member of the Orange Order and from 1971 to 1995 Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution .

life and career

Molyneaux was born in 1920 in Killead, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and attended the nearby Aldergrove School before serving in the Royal Air Force from 1941 to 1946. He took part in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and since then has given several interviews about what he had seen there.

As an Anglican child, he briefly attended a local Catholic primary school, where he is said to have expressed that the Catholic Church had made a mistake by abandoning the Tridentine Mass . When a Catholic church near his home was burned down by loyalist arsonists in the late 1990s, Molyneaux helped raise money to rebuild it. During the 1960s and 1970s he was a member of Antrim County Council (1964–1973) as well as a number of local health care committees.

Membership in the House of Commons

In 1970 he was for the constituency of South Antrim in the House of Commons voted. In October 1974 Molyneaux became chairman (leader) of the Ulster Unionists in the House of Commons and from 1982 to 1986 he sat as a member of the Ulster Unionists in the constituency of South Antrim of the failed Northern Ireland Assembly . He became a member of the Privy Council in 1983 . After a redesign of the constituencies, with South Antrim was divided, he became a member of Lagan Valley in 1983 . In 1985 he resigned from his seat along with his Unionist colleagues in the House of Commons in protest against the Anglo-Irish Agreement , but was re - elected in the subsequent by- election.

Molyneaux was generally seen as a member of the integrative tendency within Ulster Unionism, he was in favor of direct administration of Westminster with some extensions of local authority, as opposed to the preference for devolution for a new Northern Ireland parliamentary assembly. This preference was attributed to the influence of Enoch Powell . Critics in his party saw Molyneaux as a chairman who did nothing and was inappropriately defensive against the Conservative Party . This led him to be surprised by the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and overshadowed by Ian Paisley .

Molyneaux defenders argue that its main goal was unity of the party, and since the UUP was so divided, only minimalist politics could hold them together. The correctness of this view was shown by the dissolution of the party under David Trimble .

During the 1980s, he was an active MP and Vice President of the Conservative Monday Club . In its newspaper, Right Ahead in the October 1985 issue of the Conservative Party Conference, Molyneaux contributed an extensive article entitled Northern Ireland - Ulster Belongs to Britain NOT to the Irish Republic . In 1995 he was challenged for party leadership by a 21-year-old student and, although he won with ease, there was a high percentage of protest votes. After the poor performance of the Ulster Unionists in the by-election in the North Down 1995, Molyneaux gave in to renewed pressure to resign.

From 1995 to 1997 he was UUP spokesman for the Treasury. In the 1997 general election , he did not run again.

Membership in the House of Lords

Molyneaux was named a Life Peer as Baron Molyneaux of Killead, of Killead in the County of Antrim on June 10, 1997 . In the House of Lords , he sat as CROSSBENCHER . He gave his inaugural address on July 3, 1997.

On the House of Lords website, he mentions constitutional issues, mental health and local government as topics of political interest.

He was spokesman for Northern Ireland . On several occasions during his retirement, he was critical of his successor as Chairman David Trimble in public and rejected the Good Friday Agreement .

In 2003, Molyneaux supported half of the Ulster Unionists' MPs, including David Burnside , Jeffrey Donaldson and Martin Smyth , when they left the group in protest of Trimble's leadership and continued support for the deal.

In the general election in 2005 attracted Molyneaux stir when he and Smyth the candidate of the Democratic Unionist Party , Jimmy Spratt , which the Ulster Unionist Party , Michael McGimpsey , in the constituency of South Belfast preferring. Smyth had previously represented this. Molyneaux also supported his successor Donaldson as MP for Lagan Valley, even though he had converted to the DUP. However, he also supported some UUP candidates, including Burnside in South Antrim. In the election, Donaldson held his new party seat by a large majority, while Spratt received more votes than McGimpsey but was narrowly beaten by Alasdair McDonnell ( SDLP ). Many suspect that Molyneaux and Smith's support had a negative impact on UUP results. Burnside lost his seat, however.

Molyneaux had been present regularly since 2001, but his presence eventually fell sharply. Most recently, he was present for two days in the 2009/2010 session. Since June 25, 2012 he was on leave of absence granted by the House of Lords .

Other offices

Molyneaux was Honorary Secretary (Hon. Secretary) of the South Antrim Unionist Association from 1954 to 1970 . From 1971 to 1974 he was Chairman (Chair) of the Unionist Association in Antrim. From 1974 to 1977 Molyneaux was chairman (leader) of the United Ulster Unionist Coalition .

From 1974 to 1979 he was Vice President of the UUP Council . From 1966 to 1973 he was vice-chairman (Vice-Chairman) of the Eastern Special Care Hospital Committee . He was 1967-1970 Chairman (Chairman) of the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health in Antrim. He was also Justice of the Peace of Co Antrim from 1957 to 1986 .

Honors

After resigning as party chairman, he was named Knight of the Order of the British Empire in 1996.

family

Molyneaux wasn't married. He died on March 9, 2015 at the age of 94 in a nursing home in his native Killead.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Orange Photos published on the sneps.net website , accessed on November 20, 2012.
  2. ↑ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website , accessed November 20, 2012.
  3. ↑ Jim Molyneaux - still in fine voice at 90: the political veteran and his choir of ladies. In: Belfast Telegraph. August 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ Sam Roberts: James H. Molyneaux, Who Led Unionists in Northern Ireland, Dies at 94. In: The New York Times, March 10, 2015 (English, accessed March 11, 2015).
personal data
SURNAME Molyneaux, James, Baron Molyneaux of Killead
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Molyneaux, James Henry, Baron Molyneaux of Killead (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician (UUP)
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Killead , County Antrim
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2015
Place of death Killead , County Antrim