James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead

James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead

James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, KBE, PC (born August 27, 1920) is a Northern Irish Unionist politician and was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1979 to 1995. He was a leading member and sometime Vice-President of the Conservative Monday Club. He was also Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution from 1971 to 1995.

Born in Killead, County Antrim, Molyneaux was educated at nearby Aldergrove School before serving in the Royal Air Force between 1941 and 1946. During the 1960s and 1970s, he served on Antrim County Council as well as a number of committees concerning local healthcare, and in 1970 was elected Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for South Antrim. In October 1974, Molyneaux became leader of the Ulster Unionists in the House of Commons, and between 1982 and 1986 he sat as an Ulster Unionist member for South Antrim in the failed Northern Ireland Assembly. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1982. Following boundary changes that divided South Antrim, he became member for the new seat of Lagan Valley in 1983. In 1985, he resigned his seat along with his Unionist colleagues in the House of Commons in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and was re-elected in the subsequent by-election.

Throughout the 1980s he was an active MP member and Vice-President of the Conservative Monday Club. In the Club's newspaper, "Right Ahead", the October 1985 Conservative Party Conference issue, Molyneaux contributed a lengthy article entitled "Northern Ireland - Ulster belongs to Britain NOT to the Irish Republic".

In 1995 he was challenged for the leadership of the Ulster Unionists by a 21 year old student and, although winning easily, saw a strong protest vote against his leadership registered. Following the Ulster Unionists' poor showing in the 1995 North Down by-election, Molyneaux yielded to renewed pressure to retire as leader. On retiring as Ulster Unionist leader he was knighted as a KBE in 1996. The following year, after standing down as an MP at the 1997 General Election, he was created a life peer as Baron Molyneaux of Killead, of Killead in the County of Antrim.

On several occasions in his retirement he was publicly critical of his successor as leader, David Trimble, and fiercely opposed the Good Friday Agreement. In 2003 Molyneaux supported half the Ulster Unionist MPs - David Burnside, Jeffrey Donaldson and Martin Smyth - when they resigned the party whip in protest against the leadership of Trimble and the continuing support for the Agreement. In the 2005 general election Molyneaux caused a storm when he and Smyth endorsed the Democratic Unionist Party candidate Jimmy Spratt over the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Michael McGimpsey in South Belfast, the seat Smyth was retiring from. Molyneaux also endorsed Donaldson, his successor as MP for Lagan Valley, even though Donaldson had now defected to the DUP. However he also endorsed some Ulster Unionists, most notably Burnside in South Antrim. In the election Donaldson held his seat for his new party by a large majority whilst Spratt outpolled McGimpsey (though losing to the SDLP candidate Alasdair McDonnell on a split vote) and many asserted that Molyneaux and Smyth's endorsements had contributed to the UUP's disastrous showing. However Burnside lost his seat.

ee also

* List of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Lords
* List of Northern Ireland members of the Privy Council


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Killead — Infobox UK place official name= Killead irish name= scots name= local name= static static image caption= map type= Northern Ireland latitude= 54.665095162842086 longitude= 6.1804962158203125 belfast distance= 14 miles population= 78 (2001) irish… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Privy Counsellors (1952–present) — This is a List of Privy Counsellors of the United Kingdom appointed since the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952. Due to political ties, some Prime Ministers from Commonwealth realms also are ascended to the British Privy Council as… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Northern Ireland members of the House of Lords — This is a list of sitting Members of the United Kingdom House of Lords who were born, live or lived in Northern Ireland.This list does not include hereditary peers who have lost their seat in the Lords following the House of Lords Act 1999, or… …   Wikipedia

  • Earl of Sefton — The title Earl of Sefton was created in the Peerage of Ireland in1771 for the 8th Viscount Molyneux, and the once Aristocratic Molyneux family. The Earls of Sefton held the subsidiary titles Viscount Molyneux, of Maryborough in the Queen s County …   Wikipedia

  • 1920 in Ireland — Events*27 February The text of the Home Rule Bill to be introduced in the British House of Commons is published. It provides for the establishment of a 128 member parliament in Dublin and a 52 member parliament in Belfast. *20 March The Lord… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Mitglieder des House of Lords — Dies ist eine Liste der Mitglieder des House of Lords. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Bischöfe 2 Ehemalige Bischöfe 3 A F 4 G M 5 N S …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Molyneux (surname) — Molyneux is a surname. Over the centuries, several deviations of the name Molyneaux have emerged. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people… …   Wikipedia

  • Members of the House of Lords — This is a list of members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Contents 1 Lords Spiritual 2 Lords Temporal 2.1 Peers on leave of absence …   Wikipedia

  • List of Barons in the Peerages of the British Isles — This is a list of Barons ( Lords of Parliament in Scottish terms) in the Peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Note that it does not include those still extant baronies which have become merged (either… …   Wikipedia

  • Peerage of the United Kingdom — Die Peerage of the United Kingdom umfasst alle Peer Würden, die im Königreich Großbritannien nach dem Act of Union 1800 geschaffen wurden. Die Peerage of the United Kingdom ersetzte somit die Peerage of Great Britain. In der Peerage of Ireland… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”