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EspañolVANGUARD PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST PARTY
The 'Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party', also known as the 'Vanguard Ulster Progressive Party' (and several variations of word order), was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1973 and 1978. It was closely affiliated with several loyalist paramilitary groups.
It had its roots in the 'Vanguard' or 'Ulster Vanguard' wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) who were opposed to the moderate policies of the party's leader and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Brian Faulkner. The Ulster Vanguard movement was originally a political pressure group within the UUP. It was formed on the 9th of February 1972 [1] and was led by William Craig (former Minister of Home Affairs at Stormont) with its deputy leaders the Rev. Martin Smyth and the former Stormont MP for Carrick, Captain Austin Ardill. [2] At its first meeting in Lisburn, on 13 February 1972, Craig made the first of a number of bellicose pronouncements, declaring "God help those who get in our way for we mean business." [3]
Vanguard had its own paramilitary grouping called the Vanguard Service Corps (USC) whose main function seemed to be to provide escorts for Vanguard speakers attending rallies. Vanguard held a large rally on 18 March 1972 in Belfast's Ormeau Park, attended by up to 50,000 people, at which Craig said that "We must build up the dossiers on the men and women who are a menace to this country, because one day, ladies and gentlement, if the politicians fail, it will be our duty to liquidate the enemy". [4]
After the suspension of the Stormont Parliament, Faulkner moved towards a policy of power-sharing with nationalist and non-sectarian politicians under the Sunningdale Agreement. In opposition to this many in the Ulster Unionists broke away and founded a separate Vanguard Party under the leadership of the former Stormont Minister William Craig.
Despite the "Progressive" part of its title, Vanguard is usually considered to have been a right-wing party. In its earliest days it adopted the style associated with falangist parties with an honour guard, a common salute and a habit of wearing sashes. Consequently it was likened to rallies in the Third Reich with the Stomont MP William McConnell claiming that Vanguard rallies involved "a certain Hitlerian-type figure ... walking up and down the lines, inspecting his so-called storm-troopers." [5]
The Ulster Vanguard movement had advocated a semi-independent Northern Ireland. It was also the intention that Vanguard would provide an umbrella organisation for Loyalists. Ulster Vanguard had close links with, and strong support from Loyalist paramilitary groups. Vanguard strongly criticised the imposition of direct rule and in its booklet 'Ulster - A Nation' published in April 1972, it
pledged "resistance to an undemocratic and un-British regime" and suggested the possibility of a Federal British Isles. [6]
It demanded the "extermination" of the Irish Republican Army and a reversal of the reforms introduced by Brian Faulkner and his predecessor, and in a booklet published in late 1972 entitled 'Community of the British Isles'
it even flirted with the idea of full independence for Northern Ireland albeit within a structure which would also include Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. [7]
Vanguard was firmly supportive of extra-parliamentary activity in the form of direct action in order to achieve its goals. Vanguard organised a general strike which affected power supplies, forced businesses to close and halted public transport. [8] About 190,000 people participated and Vanguard members barricaded and took effective control of the town of Portadown. Later 100,000 unionists converged on the drive leading to Stormont, where Craig addressed the crowds, but deferred to the outgoing Prime Minister Brian Faulkner who managed to disperse the crowds.
Vanguards policies remained inconstitent however and in their 1974 Westminster manifesto they called for the more mainstream Unionist option of either devolved government with full security responsibilities or full integration into the UK. http://www.galeuk.com/stormont/pdf/End%20of%20Stormont%20&%20imposition%20of%20direct%20rule%201972.pdf
However there were occasions when it did not follow the same course as other right-wing or unionist parties. For example in the 1975 referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the-then European Economic Community, it campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain a member whilst the other Unionist parties campaigned for withdrawal. [9]
The party contested a succession of elections: to the brief Sunningdale Assembly, the February 1974 General Election, the October 1974 General Election and the 1975 elections to the Constitutional Convention. The 1973 Sunningdale and local council elections were fought in an informal alliance with the DUP as "the loyalist coalition" while the latter three were fought as part of the United Ulster Unionist Council, a more formal arrangement, with the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionists, where the anti-Sunningdale wing of the party was now in control.
The party was originally as electorally strong as the DUP with twenty-four local councillors elected in 1973 against twenty-eight councillors for the DUP (although many of these were elected under different labels) and three MPs in 1974 against one DUP MP (although this was partly due to the nomination strategy of the UUUC which arguably gave better seats to Vanguagrd than the DUP). The bulk of Vanguard's council seats were in urban centres in the East. The party also obtained more seats in 1975 in the elections to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention than the DUP. However Vanguard's prospects of replacing the DUP as the second party of Unionism came to grief as a result of events during the constitutional convention.
The Constitutional Convention was intended to serve as a forum to allow the politicians of Northern Ireland to draw up their own proposals for the political future of the province, though this proved unsuccessful. However it led to William Craig proposing a voluntary coalition with the Nationalist SDLP in the event of there being a state of emergency, but any idea of power sharing was anathema to many Unionist in the post-Sunningdale climate of 1975. As a result the party was bitterly split with only David Trimble and Glenn Barr backing Craig with the other eleven convention members challenging Craig's leadership. Craig however claimed that he had the backing of the party's rank and file and this was confirmed when sixty percent of party members and thirteen of the twenty-four councillors backed him at a specially convened meeting. (Three councillors failed to side with either faction and stood as independents in the 1977 council elections.) The dissidents then broke away to form what would later become the United Ulster Unionist Party.
The 1977 council elections were seen as a crucial test of Vanguard's ability to survive as a party and ultimately the party failed that test emerging from the election with only five councillors compared to twenty-four in 1973 or the thirteen that they had after the 1975 split.
Craig then applied to rejoin the UUP in February 1978 and subsequently merged the remainder of Vanguard back into the Ulster Unionist Party, where it returned to its origin as a pressure group within the UUP as the Vanguard movement, although this too seems to have quickly faded away. The Democratic Unionist Party has since become the main hardline Unionist party that offers an alternative position to the Ulster Unionists.
In the 1982 elections for the new Northern Ireland Assembly, Craig, who had once more left the Ulster Unionists after losing his seat at Westminster, revived the name Vanguard for his candidacy in East Belfast. However he failed to get elected.
Several prominent current Ulster Unionist politicians were members of Vanguard, with those elected for Vanguard in 1975 including future UUP MP David Burnside (who was Vanguard's press officer) and future UUP leaders David Trimble (who briefly served as Deputy Leader) and Reg Empey. Rev. Martin Smyth later a UUP MP (and Grand Master of the Orange Order) was deputy leader of the Vanguard movement but declined to join the party.
1. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm#uv
2. http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html
3. http://www.galeuk.com/stormont/pdf/End%20of%20Stormont%20&%20imposition%20of%20direct%20rule%201972.pdf
4. Boyd, Andrew, 1972, Brian Faulkner and the Crisis of Ulster Unionism, Anvil Books, Tralee,Republic of Ireland. p100
5. http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/pageview.html?volumeno=84&pageno=621&searchTerm=vanguard#bak-84-623]
6. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/docs/vanguard72.htm
7. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/docs/vanguard72a.htm
8. http://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/dg78/100.3/documents/ira2.htm
9. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fref70s.htm
| Contents |
| Origins |
| Ideology |
| Policies |
| Electoral performances |
| 1975/6 Split |
| Decline and disbandment |
| Prominent UUP members in Vanguard |
| References |
Origins
It had its roots in the 'Vanguard' or 'Ulster Vanguard' wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) who were opposed to the moderate policies of the party's leader and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Brian Faulkner. The Ulster Vanguard movement was originally a political pressure group within the UUP. It was formed on the 9th of February 1972 [1] and was led by William Craig (former Minister of Home Affairs at Stormont) with its deputy leaders the Rev. Martin Smyth and the former Stormont MP for Carrick, Captain Austin Ardill. [2] At its first meeting in Lisburn, on 13 February 1972, Craig made the first of a number of bellicose pronouncements, declaring "God help those who get in our way for we mean business." [3]
Vanguard had its own paramilitary grouping called the Vanguard Service Corps (USC) whose main function seemed to be to provide escorts for Vanguard speakers attending rallies. Vanguard held a large rally on 18 March 1972 in Belfast's Ormeau Park, attended by up to 50,000 people, at which Craig said that "We must build up the dossiers on the men and women who are a menace to this country, because one day, ladies and gentlement, if the politicians fail, it will be our duty to liquidate the enemy". [4]
After the suspension of the Stormont Parliament, Faulkner moved towards a policy of power-sharing with nationalist and non-sectarian politicians under the Sunningdale Agreement. In opposition to this many in the Ulster Unionists broke away and founded a separate Vanguard Party under the leadership of the former Stormont Minister William Craig.
Ideology
Despite the "Progressive" part of its title, Vanguard is usually considered to have been a right-wing party. In its earliest days it adopted the style associated with falangist parties with an honour guard, a common salute and a habit of wearing sashes. Consequently it was likened to rallies in the Third Reich with the Stomont MP William McConnell claiming that Vanguard rallies involved "a certain Hitlerian-type figure ... walking up and down the lines, inspecting his so-called storm-troopers." [5]
Policies
The Ulster Vanguard movement had advocated a semi-independent Northern Ireland. It was also the intention that Vanguard would provide an umbrella organisation for Loyalists. Ulster Vanguard had close links with, and strong support from Loyalist paramilitary groups. Vanguard strongly criticised the imposition of direct rule and in its booklet 'Ulster - A Nation' published in April 1972, it
pledged "resistance to an undemocratic and un-British regime" and suggested the possibility of a Federal British Isles. [6]
It demanded the "extermination" of the Irish Republican Army and a reversal of the reforms introduced by Brian Faulkner and his predecessor, and in a booklet published in late 1972 entitled 'Community of the British Isles'
it even flirted with the idea of full independence for Northern Ireland albeit within a structure which would also include Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. [7]
Vanguard was firmly supportive of extra-parliamentary activity in the form of direct action in order to achieve its goals. Vanguard organised a general strike which affected power supplies, forced businesses to close and halted public transport. [8] About 190,000 people participated and Vanguard members barricaded and took effective control of the town of Portadown. Later 100,000 unionists converged on the drive leading to Stormont, where Craig addressed the crowds, but deferred to the outgoing Prime Minister Brian Faulkner who managed to disperse the crowds.
Vanguards policies remained inconstitent however and in their 1974 Westminster manifesto they called for the more mainstream Unionist option of either devolved government with full security responsibilities or full integration into the UK. http://www.galeuk.com/stormont/pdf/End%20of%20Stormont%20&%20imposition%20of%20direct%20rule%201972.pdf
However there were occasions when it did not follow the same course as other right-wing or unionist parties. For example in the 1975 referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the-then European Economic Community, it campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain a member whilst the other Unionist parties campaigned for withdrawal. [9]
Electoral performances
The party contested a succession of elections: to the brief Sunningdale Assembly, the February 1974 General Election, the October 1974 General Election and the 1975 elections to the Constitutional Convention. The 1973 Sunningdale and local council elections were fought in an informal alliance with the DUP as "the loyalist coalition" while the latter three were fought as part of the United Ulster Unionist Council, a more formal arrangement, with the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionists, where the anti-Sunningdale wing of the party was now in control.
The party was originally as electorally strong as the DUP with twenty-four local councillors elected in 1973 against twenty-eight councillors for the DUP (although many of these were elected under different labels) and three MPs in 1974 against one DUP MP (although this was partly due to the nomination strategy of the UUUC which arguably gave better seats to Vanguagrd than the DUP). The bulk of Vanguard's council seats were in urban centres in the East. The party also obtained more seats in 1975 in the elections to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention than the DUP. However Vanguard's prospects of replacing the DUP as the second party of Unionism came to grief as a result of events during the constitutional convention.
1975/6 Split
The Constitutional Convention was intended to serve as a forum to allow the politicians of Northern Ireland to draw up their own proposals for the political future of the province, though this proved unsuccessful. However it led to William Craig proposing a voluntary coalition with the Nationalist SDLP in the event of there being a state of emergency, but any idea of power sharing was anathema to many Unionist in the post-Sunningdale climate of 1975. As a result the party was bitterly split with only David Trimble and Glenn Barr backing Craig with the other eleven convention members challenging Craig's leadership. Craig however claimed that he had the backing of the party's rank and file and this was confirmed when sixty percent of party members and thirteen of the twenty-four councillors backed him at a specially convened meeting. (Three councillors failed to side with either faction and stood as independents in the 1977 council elections.) The dissidents then broke away to form what would later become the United Ulster Unionist Party.
Decline and disbandment
The 1977 council elections were seen as a crucial test of Vanguard's ability to survive as a party and ultimately the party failed that test emerging from the election with only five councillors compared to twenty-four in 1973 or the thirteen that they had after the 1975 split.
Craig then applied to rejoin the UUP in February 1978 and subsequently merged the remainder of Vanguard back into the Ulster Unionist Party, where it returned to its origin as a pressure group within the UUP as the Vanguard movement, although this too seems to have quickly faded away. The Democratic Unionist Party has since become the main hardline Unionist party that offers an alternative position to the Ulster Unionists.
In the 1982 elections for the new Northern Ireland Assembly, Craig, who had once more left the Ulster Unionists after losing his seat at Westminster, revived the name Vanguard for his candidacy in East Belfast. However he failed to get elected.
Prominent UUP members in Vanguard
Several prominent current Ulster Unionist politicians were members of Vanguard, with those elected for Vanguard in 1975 including future UUP MP David Burnside (who was Vanguard's press officer) and future UUP leaders David Trimble (who briefly served as Deputy Leader) and Reg Empey. Rev. Martin Smyth later a UUP MP (and Grand Master of the Orange Order) was deputy leader of the Vanguard movement but declined to join the party.
References
1. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm#uv
2. http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html
3. http://www.galeuk.com/stormont/pdf/End%20of%20Stormont%20&%20imposition%20of%20direct%20rule%201972.pdf
4. Boyd, Andrew, 1972, Brian Faulkner and the Crisis of Ulster Unionism, Anvil Books, Tralee,Republic of Ireland. p100
5. http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/pageview.html?volumeno=84&pageno=621&searchTerm=vanguard#bak-84-623]
6. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/docs/vanguard72.htm
7. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/docs/vanguard72a.htm
8. http://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/dg78/100.3/documents/ira2.htm
9. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fref70s.htm
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