Martin Smyth
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Reverend William Martin Smyth (born June 15, 1931) is a Northern Ireland unionist politician, and was Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for Belfast South from 1982-2005. He was a Vice-President of the Conservative Monday Club.
He is also an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and was minister of Raffrey, County Down from 1957 to 1963 and of Alexandra Church, Belfast 1963-1982.
He attended Methodist College Belfast.
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[edit] Beginning of Political Career
Smyth was Grand Master of the Orange Order from 1971 to 1996. In the 1970s, he was a Deputy Leader of the Vanguard movement which had emerged as a faction within the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). However, when this faction split from the UUP to form the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, Smyth chose to remain with the UUP. His name was linked in the Belfast Telegraph with the UUP candidacy for the Belfast North constituency in 1974[citation needed]. However, he did not stand there, and the following year, he was elected to the Constitutional Convention for Belfast South, polling more than double the electoral quota[1].
[edit] Member of Parliament
He was selected to fill the vacancy caused by the murder of Robert Bradford. Smyth was consequently elected Member of Parliament in a 1982 by-election, receiving 17,123 votes[2]. Later the same year, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, again polling double the electoral quota[3]. He along with all other Unionist MPs resigned his seat in 1985 in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement. He successfully defended his seat in the subsequent by election.[4].
At the October 1988 Conservative Party Conference, Western Goals (UK) held a fringe meeting on the subject of "International Terrorism - how the West can fight back". Rev. Martyn Smyth, MP, Andrew Hunter, MP, Sir Alfred Sherman and Harvey Ward, were the speakers. Andrew Hunter gave considerable detail to the meeting concerning top-level links between the IRA and ANC.[citation needed]
[edit] David Trimble's Leadership
Rev. Smyth ran for the leadership of the UUP in 1995 after James Molyneaux stood down, but lost to David Trimble. He was opposed to the Belfast Agreement, however was considered a moderate in the early 1990s, being condemned in 1993 by the Democratic Unionist Party for suggesting that talks with Sinn Féin might be possible[5]. He challenged David Trimble for the party leadership in 2000, and was again unsuccessful[6]. He was unsuccessfully challenged for the UUP nomination in Belfast South by Michael McGimpsey[7] before the 2001 General Election, and went on to hold the seat. In 2001 he was elected to the position of President of the party. In 2003, he, along with David Burnside and Jeffrey Donaldson, resigned the party whip[8] due to disagreements over the British Irish Declaration of 2003[9]. He attempted to dissuade Donaldson from resigning from the party entirely[citation needed]. In January 2004, Smyth and Burnside retook the UUP whip[10]. Later that year he lost the party Presidency in the annual election at the Ulster Unionist Council, polling 329 votes to Lord Rogan who won with 407 votes. The same meeting saw an unsuccessful challenge to Trimble's leadership.
[edit] End of Political Career and the 2005 General Election
In January 2005, he announced he would be stepping down from Parliament at the next election to spend more time with his wife. He ended his House of Commons career in May 2005. During the election Smyth courted controversy when he and former Ulster Unionist leader James Molyneaux appeared in a photograph with Democratic Unionist Party candidate Jimmy Spratt on Spratt's election literature [11]. Smyth denied endorsing Spratt stating:
| “ | People take pictures of me and they turn up in different places. I didn't sign any form, I didn't go out canvassing, but I was out canvassing with the only two unionist candidates who asked me.[12] | ” |
The candidates Smyth did canvass for were David Burnside in South Antrim and Rodney McCune in North Antrim[13]. In the event neither Unionist candidate won in South Belfast, with the seat being taken by the Social Democratic and Labour Party's Alasdair McDonnell amidst a split in the vote between the two Unionist parties[14].
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/csb.htm
- ^ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/csb.htm
- ^ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/csb.htm
- ^ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/bsb.htm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/687810.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2053125.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1174624.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3185261.stm
- ^ http://www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=17757
- ^ http://www.4ni.co.uk/northern_ireland_news.asp?id=24261
- ^ Kerr, Michael, 'David Trimble and the 2005 General election', Dublin (2005) pg 58
- ^ Kerr, Michael (December 2005). 'Transforming Unionism : David Trimble and the 2005 General election'. Irish Academic Press, pg 58. ISBN 978-0716533894.
- ^ Kerr, Michael, 'David Trimble and the 2005 General election', Dublin (2005) pg 58
- ^ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/asb.htm
[edit] External links
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Robert Bradford |
Member of Parliament for Belfast South 1982–2005 |
Succeeded by Alasdair McDonnell |
| Party political offices | ||
| New political party | Deputy Leader of Ulster Vanguard 1972 - 1973 Served alongside: Austin Ardill |
Succeeded by Ernest Baird |
| Preceded by Sir Joe Cunningham |
President of the Ulster Unionist Party 2000–2004 |
Succeeded by Lord Rogan |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by John Bryans |
Grand Master of the Orange Institution of Ireland 1971–1996 |
Succeeded by Robert Saulters |
