Martin Smyth
Encyclopedia
Reverend William Martin Smyth (born 15 June 1931) is a Northern Irish
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.
area of Belfast
, and attended Methodist College Belfast
and Trinity College, Dublin
.
of the Orange Order
in 1971, in what was seen at the time as a working-class "grass roots" revolt against the till then middle-class leadership of the Order. (He remained Grand Master until 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. 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.
. Smyth was consequently elected Member of Parliament in a 1982 by-election, receiving 17,123 votes. Later the same year, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly
, again polling double the electoral quota. 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.
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". Martyn Smyth, Andrew Hunter
MP, Sir Alfred Sherman
and Harvey Ward
, were the speakers. Hunter gave considerable detail to the meeting concerning top-level links between the IRA and ANC.
in 1995 after James Molyneaux
stood down, but lost to David Trimble
. He was opposed to the Good Friday 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. He challenged David Trimble for the party leadership in 2000
, and was again unsuccessful. He was unsuccessfully challenged for the UUP nomination in Belfast South by Michael McGimpsey
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 due to disagreements over the British Irish Declaration of 2003. He attempted to dissuade Donaldson from resigning from the party entirely. In January 2004, Smyth and Burnside retook the UUP whip. 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
.
appeared in a photograph with Democratic Unionist Party
candidate Jimmy Spratt
on Spratt's election literature. Smyth denied endorsing Spratt stating:
The candidates Smyth did canvass for were David Burnside
in South Antrim
and Rodney McCune in North Antrim
. 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.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
unionist politician, and was Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Belfast South
Belfast South (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast South is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut...
from 1982-2005. He was a Vice-President of the Conservative Monday Club
Conservative Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party.-Overview:...
.
He is also an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland , is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland...
and was minister of Raffrey, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
from 1957 to 1963 and of Alexandra Church, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
1963-1982.
Early life
Smyth was brought up in the Donegall RoadDonegall Road
The Donegall Road runs from Shaftesbury Square in Belfast city centre to the Falls Road in west Belfast. It is bisected by the Westlink, and the largest part of the road, prior to the Westlink junction, is predominantly unionist...
area of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, and attended Methodist College Belfast
Methodist College Belfast
Methodist College Belfast , styled locally as Methody, is a voluntary grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and is a member of the Independent Schools Council...
and Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
.
Beginning of Political Career
Smyth became Grand MasterGrand Master (order)
Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various orders of knighthood, including various military orders, religious orders and civil orders such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Orange Order...
of the Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
in 1971, in what was seen at the time as a working-class "grass roots" revolt against the till then middle-class leadership of the Order. (He remained Grand Master until 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
Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast North is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut...
constituency in 1974. 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.
Member of Parliament
He was selected to fill the vacancy caused by the murder of Robert BradfordRobert Bradford (NI politician)
Robert Jonathan Bradford MP was a Vanguard Unionist and Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for the Belfast South constituency in Northern Ireland until he was killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 14 November 1981....
. Smyth was consequently elected Member of Parliament in a 1982 by-election, receiving 17,123 votes. Later the same year, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
, again polling double the electoral quota. He along with all other Unionist MPs resigned his seat in 1985 in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
. He successfully defended his seat in the subsequent by election.
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". Martyn Smyth, Andrew Hunter
Andrew Hunter (British politician)
Andrew Robert Frederick Ebenezer Hunter is a United Kingdom politician and a member of the Orange Order. He was Member of Parliament for Basingstoke from 1983 until 2005...
MP, Sir Alfred Sherman
Alfred Sherman
Sir Alfred Sherman, KBE, was a writer, journalist, and political analyst. Described by a long-time associate as "a brilliant polymath, a consummate homo politicus, and one of the last true witnesses to the 20th century", he began life as a Communist soldier in the Spanish Civil War but later...
and Harvey Ward
Harvey Ward
Harvey Grenville Ward was Director-General of the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation, noted for his anti-communism and for his support for Ian Smith's government in Rhodesia and South Africa. He was a leading member of the Conservative Monday Club.-Background:Ward was born in Southern Rhodesia to...
, were the speakers. Hunter gave considerable detail to the meeting concerning top-level links between the IRA and ANC.
David Trimble's Leadership
Rev. Smyth ran for the leadership of the UUPUlster Unionist Party leadership election, September 1995
The September 1995 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election began on 28 August 1995 when James Molyneaux resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party following a year of political setbacks for his party. Lee Renyolds, a Young Unionist had contested the leadership at the Ulster Unionist Council...
in 1995 after James Molyneaux
James Molyneaux
James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, KBE, PC 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...
stood down, but lost to David Trimble
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC , is a politician from Northern Ireland. He served as Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party , was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland , and was a Member of the British Parliament . He is currently a life peer for the Conservative Party...
. He was opposed to the Good Friday Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
, however was considered a moderate in the early 1990s, being condemned in 1993 by the Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
for suggesting that talks with Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
might be possible. He challenged David Trimble for the party leadership in 2000
Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2000
The 2000 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election was triggered by the decision of Martin Smyth to challenge incumbent David Trimble over the party's direction in the implementation of the Belfast Agreement at the party's annual general meeting on 25 March 2000...
, and was again unsuccessful. He was unsuccessfully challenged for the UUP nomination in Belfast South by Michael McGimpsey
Michael McGimpsey
Michael McGimpsey MLA is an Ulster Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast South who has twice served in the Northern Ireland Executive...
before the 2001 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, 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
David Burnside
David Wilson Boyd Burnside is a Northern Ireland politician, and was Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for South Antrim....
and Jeffrey Donaldson
Jeffrey Donaldson
Jeffrey Mark Donaldson, MP is a Northern Irish politician and Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley belonging to the Democratic Unionist Party...
, resigned the party whip due to disagreements over the British Irish Declaration of 2003. He attempted to dissuade Donaldson from resigning from the party entirely. In January 2004, Smyth and Burnside retook the UUP whip. 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
Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2004
The 2004 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election was triggered by the decision of a group of UUP members to challenge incumbent leader David Trimble over the party's direction following the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly elections at the party's annual general meeting on 27 March 2004...
.
End of Political Career and the 2005 General Election
In January 2005, Smith 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 MolyneauxJames Molyneaux
James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, KBE, PC 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...
appeared in a photograph with Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
candidate Jimmy Spratt
Jimmy Spratt
Jimmy Spratt is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland.In 2007, he was elected as a Democratic Unionist Party member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Belfast. He chairs the Assembly and Executive Review Committee, is one of the DUP representatives on the Northern Ireland Policing...
on Spratt's election literature. Smyth denied endorsing Spratt stating:
The candidates Smyth did canvass for were David Burnside
David Burnside
David Wilson Boyd Burnside is a Northern Ireland politician, and was Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for South Antrim....
in South Antrim
South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
South Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:From 1885, this constituency was one of four county divisions of the former Antrim constituency...
and Rodney McCune in North Antrim
North Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
North Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. Its current member is Ian Paisley Jr.-Boundaries:North Antrim has always been a county constituency comprising the northern part of County Antrim in the north-east of Northern Ireland...
. In the event neither Unionist candidate won in South Belfast, with the seat being taken by the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
's Alasdair McDonnell
Alasdair McDonnell
Dr Alasdair McDonnell is an Irish politician, Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and both a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for South Belfast. On 5 November, 2011, he was elected as the new leader of the SDLP.-Early...
amidst a split in the vote between the two Unionist parties.
External links
- South Belfast election results ARK - Access Research Knowledge