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New Ulster Movement | Alliance Party News —Alliance Party News HomeAbout Alliance News Archive Tag Archives: New Ulster Movement The Alliance Party: How it began (Brian Eggins) By Alliance Party News1 September 2009Alliance News The Alliance Party: How it beganBrian Eggins (Alliance News)September-October 2009 The Civil Rights Association (CRA) was worked in 1967, protesting well-nigh favoritism versus Catholics. In November 1968, Prime Minister Terence O’Neill proposed reforms intended to meet their grievances. This led to dissension in the Stormont cabinet, with Bill Craig calling for tough whoopee versus the CRA, who themselves were not satisfied with O’Neill’s package. On 9 December, O’Neill appealed to the people in his “Ulster at the crossroads” speech, in which he asked, “What kind of Ulster do you want?” He tabbed an referendum in February 1969, but ten unionist MPs were versus him, so in April he resigned. In January 1969, the New Ulster Movement emerged, which aimed to develop cross-community politics with moderate and non-sectarian policies involving both Catholics and Protestants. An zippy organisation was built with thousands of members drawn from all sections of the community. It issued many influential papers. But its increasingly radical members wanted a new political party. Denis Loretto recalled, “A sixteen-strong group was worked late in 1969, consisting of some NUM members plus representatives of the ‘Parliamentary Associations’, which had worked virtually pro-O’Neill candidates in the February 1969 election. Behind the scenes it worked on the logistics of forming a political party from the ground up.” Then on 16th April 1970, there were two by-elections. David Corkey backed by NUM obtained 25% of the votes in South Antrim. So, as Denis Loretto said, “In a hectic weekend we wrote a declaration of intent signed in 19th April by sixteen people, containing the founding principles of the party plus all the supporting documentation for a printing launch on Tuesday, 21st April.” The first Alliance Party priming was held in 4th July 1970, attended by 90 committee members. An vicarial Executive Committee was formed, with Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper as joint political chairpersons. In October was the first Alliance Party Council. Further Party Conferences were held in the Ulster Hall, attended by well-nigh 2,000 people. Alliance leaders were soon involved in talks with British Government Ministers. In October 1971, Basil Glass, Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper met with Home Secretary Reginald Maulding, and in January 1972, Glass, Napier and Cooper had talks with Prime Minister Edward Heath. Early in 1972, Alliance uninventive a parliamentary party when the Stormont MPs Phelim O’Neill (Unionist), Bertie McConnell (Independent Unionist), and Tom Gormley (Independent Nationalist) joined the party. In April 1972, seventeen Aldermen and Councillors spoken that they would be sitting as Alliance Party members henceforth. A priming was held at Darlington in September 1972, to examine the options for Northern Ireland government. The new Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to go, and only the Faulkner-led Official Unionists, Alliance, and the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) attended. Phelim O’Neill (now Alliance Party Leader), Oliver Napier and Bob Cooper regularly met Secretary of State Willie Whitelaw for lunch. They convinced him that PR elections were needed. He pushed it through the cabinet versus the translating of others. In November, a Green Paper was published which contained most of the ideas put forward at Darlington. The “Irish Dimension” was unmistakably going to be the most contentious issue. In 1973, Stratton Mills, Westminster MP for North Belfast, joined the Alliance Party, but did not stand in the next referendum in 1974. Robin Baillie, Stormont MP for Newtownabbey, moreover joined. A Government White Paper, “Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals”, was published in March, which was supported by Alliance and the NILP, but the SDLP gave only qualified support. The UUP refused to reject it. The DUP and William Craig’s new Vanguard Unionist Party were opposed. However, the proposals went superiority and two Bills were published in May. Alliance was ready to races its first elections. Expectations were upper as 238 candidates stood in the Local Government elections in May and 35 candidates in the Assembly elections in June, both using the Single Transferable Vote system as proposed by Alliance. Alliance obtained 13.7% in the Local Government elections, winning 63 steering seats. In the Assembly elections, the vote was 9.2%, yielding eight Assembly seats. This gave Oliver Napier a seat in the power-sharing Executive (as Minister for Law Reform), together with Bob Cooper (as Minister for Labour Relations). A priming was then held at Sunningdale well-nigh the Irish Dimension. Although aSteeringof Ireland was agreed, variegated parties had variegated perceptions of it. The unionists considered it an newsy body, whereas the SDLP thought it was the route to a united Ireland. Oliver Napier asked, “Do you really want aSteeringof Ireland? TheSteeringof Ireland hangs by a thread … If you do nothing in the next few weeks, history will judge you and its judgment will be harsh and unforgiving.” Archives June 2014 March 2014 April 2011 April 2010 November 2009 September 2009 March 2009 May 2005 January 2004 January 2003 August 2002 March 2002 May 2001 November 2000 October 2000 February 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 September 1998 August 1998 July 1998 June 1998 May 1998 April 1998 March 1998 February 1998 January 1998 December 1997 November 1997 October 1997 September 1997 March 1997 February 1997 November 1996 March 1995 Categories Alliance News Alliance Youth Biographies Elections PolicyPrintingPress Coverage video threshing upkeep Civic Forum Civil Rights Association climate transpiration polity relations Conservatives powerlessness DOE economy education referendum employment energy environment equality Euro European Union finance Good Friday Agreement health homophobia housing justice language military Multi-Party Talks murder New Ulster Movement Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland Labour Party obituary parades peace process policing poverty power sharing public transport rates sport Sunningdale Agreement UUP violence womenMeta Register Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.com Blog at WordPress.com.