Robert McCartney (Northern Ireland politician)
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Robert McCartney QC |
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|---|---|
| Leader of the United Kingdom Unionist Party |
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In office 1995–2008 |
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| Preceded by | Party created |
| Succeeded by | Party dissolved |
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Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Down |
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In office 25 June 1998 – 7 March 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Brian Wilson |
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Member of Parliament for North Down |
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In office 15 June 1995 – 14 May 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Sir James Kilfedder |
| Succeeded by | Sylvia, Lady Hermon |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
24 April 1936 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | UK Unionist Party |
| Residence | Cultra, County Down |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
| Profession |
Barrister Academic |
Robert Law McCartney, QC (born 24 April 1936) is a Northern Irish barrister and a former leader of the UK Unionist Party.
He was initially a member of the Ulster Unionist Party but was expelled in June 1987 when he refused to withdraw from the general election of that year. He stood against the incumbent Popular Unionist Party MP Sir James Kilfedder in North Down as a "Real Unionist" but failed to win the seat.
In the 1995 by-election in North Down after the death of Kilfedder he was elected as a "UK Unionist" defeating the Ulster Unionist Party candidate. He subsequently established the United Kingdom Unionist Party to contest elections to the Northern Ireland Forum and the related talks which started in 1996. The other party representatives to the Forum were Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien and Cedric Wilson, a former low-level DUP member in the 1980s. McCartney retained his Westminster seat in the 1997 election.
He opposed the subsequent Belfast Agreement in the May 1998 referendum and his party won five seats in the Assembly elections later that year (McCartney himself in North Down, Cedric Wilson in Strangford, Patrick Roche in Lagan Valley, Norman Boyd in South Antrim and Roger Hutchinson in East Antrim).
However, Wilson, Roche, Boyd and Hutchinson parted company with McCartney in December 1998 because of their leader's so-called 'exit strategy' from the Northern Ireland Assembly in the event of Sinn Féin being allowed seats in the new Northern Ireland Government. McCartney denounced them, saying all four 'were famous in their own living rooms' and that their supporters 'could fit into a telephone box.' In 2008 both Wilson and Boyd attended meetings of Jim Allister's Traditional Unionist Voice.
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