Harry West
Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1974 to 1979. HMSO image.

The Right Honourable Harry William West (March 27, 1917 – February 5, 2004) was a politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1974 until 1979. Image File history File linksMetadata Harrywest. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Harrywest. ... Her Majestys Stationery Office (usually abbreviated as HMSO) is part of the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. ... The Right Honourable (abbreviated The Rt Hon. ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (87th in Leap years). ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)4 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages none English is the most widely used language; Irish has official recognition. ... The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party ) is a moderate unionist political party in Northern Ireland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

West was born in County Fermanagh and educated at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen. He worked as a farmer, taking an interest in local government, but it was not until 1954 that he entered Stormont as member for the Enniskillen seat, succeeding Thomas Charles Nelson. In 1960 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the government of Lord Brookeborough, which he was to retain under Terence O'Neill. However in 1967 he was dismissed. County Fermanagh (Contae Fhear Manach or Fear Manach in Irish), is the westernmost of the six counties that form Northern Ireland. ... Portora Royal School is a boys school located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. ... Coles Monument Enniskillen (Inis Ceithleann in Irish) is the county town of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from June 7, 1921 to March 30, 1972, when it was suspended. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Right Honourable Sir Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Bt, KG, CBE, MC, PC (June 9, 1888-August 18, 1973) was an Irish Unionist politician. ... The Right Honourable Terence Marne ONeill, Baron ONeill of the Maine (10 September 1914–12 June 1990) was the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He became one of a number of Stormont MPs fiercely opposed to O'Neill's reforms aimed at addressing Catholic grievances and in 1969 he had the whip withdrawn, along with William Craig. In 1971 the whip was restored under the new Ulster Unionist leader and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner. West became Minister of Agriculture once more and retained that position until the Stormont government was dissolved in 1972. 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... The Right Honourable William Craig (b. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland, appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. ... The Right Honourable Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick (February 18, 1922 - March 3, 1977) was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1971 until 1972. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Tuesday. ...

West emerged as a fierce critic of the negotiations that would lead to the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973. When in January 1974 the Ulster Unionist Council voted against Faulkner's course of action the latter was forced into resignation. West succeeded him as leader of the party and sought to regain much of the support that the party had lost to breakaway and other Unionist groupings. In the February 1974 general election West negotiated the United Ulster Unionist Coalition with the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, led by Craig, and the Democratic Unionist Party, led by Ian Paisley, which would put up a single anti-Sunningdale Unionist candidate in all twelve constituencies on a platform of abolishing the power-sharing executive. West himself stood in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and won, albeit due to a split nationalist vote. The Sunningdale Agreement on December 9, 1973, was an attempt to end the Northern Ireland troubles by forcing unionists to share power with nationalists. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The UK general election of February 1974 was held on February 28, 1974. ... The United Ulster Unionist Council (also known as the United Ulster Unionist Coalition) was a body that sought to bring together the Unionists opposed to the Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland. ... The Vanguard Progressive Unionist 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. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a right wing unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... The Reverend and Right Honourable Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, MP, MLA (born 6 April 1926); also known as Dr. Ian Paisley, is a prominent politician and church leader from Northern Ireland. ... Fermanagh & South Tyrone is a Parliamentary Constituency in the British House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ...

The UUUC campaigned fiercely for the abolition of the executive, which came about in May 1974 following a general strike. West continued to seek ways to expand unionism and recruited the ex-Conservative Member of Parliament Enoch Powell to the party. Powell stood for and won the South Down constituency in the October 1974 general election, but his opposition to the restoration of Stormont and preference for greater integration with the United Kingdom was to cause ruptures within the party. West himself lost his seat in Parliament due to a pact between Nationalists, so having the dubious distinction of being the only MP newly elected in February 1974 who lost his seat in October and never returned to the Commons, but he remained leader of the party. The UUUC lasted another few years and won the overwhelming majority of the seats in the 1975 Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention which sought to gain consensus on the future of the province. When the Vanguard Party fell apart over proposals for a voluntary coalition with the Social Democratic and Labour Party, West negoiated with Craig for the majority faction to merge into the Ulster Unionists. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Enoch Powell The Right Honourable John Enoch Powell MBE (June 16, 1912 – February 8, 1998) was a British politician. ... South Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... The UK general election of October 1974 took place on October 10, 1974. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention was an elected body set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland. ... The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP — Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. ...

The 1979 general election was relatively disappointing for the Ulster Unionists, as they won only five of the province's twelve constituencies. In June 1979 West stood as one of two candidates in the first elections to the European Parliament. However he was unsuccessful in the Single Transferable Vote constituency for the entire province and had the personal humiliations of seeing rival DUP leader Ian Paisley top the poll, fellow Ulster Unionist John Taylor win one of the seats and former Ulster Unionist member James Kilfedder performing better than West to become runner up. West resigned shortly afterwards. The UK general election, 1979 was held on May 3, 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. ... Look up June in Wiktionary, the free dictionary June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with a length of 30 days The month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... The European Parliament Election, 1979 was the first European election to be held in the United Kingdom after the European Community decided to directly elect representatives to the European Parliament. ... This STV ballot for the Australian Senate illustrates group voting tickets. ... John David Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, PC (NI), MLA (born December 24, 1937) is a former Ulster Unionist Party MP and now a life peer. ... Sir James Alexander Kilfedder (July 16, 1928–March 20, 1995) was a Northern Ireland unionist politician. ...

He remained active in the Ulster Unionists for some years and was the party's unsuccessful candidate in the bitter April 1981 by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, when he was defeated by Bobby Sands. He was considered to have fought a lacklustre campaign, and the UUP chose Ken Maginnis instead to fight the second by-election; although he did not win he was considered to have fought a more dynamic campaign. Afterwards West remained a member of the Ulster Unionist Council and was highly critical of his successor, James Molyneaux, for his opposition to proposals for power sharing devolution. The by-election held in Fermanagh and South Tryrone on April 9, 1981 is considered by many to be the most significant by-election held in Northern Ireland since the beginning of The Troubles. ... Robert Gerard Sands, commonly known as Bobby Sands (March 9, 1954–May 5, 1981) was an Irish republican who died on hunger strike in Long Kesh prison, Northern Ireland // Family and early life A mural depicting Bobby Sands, on the gable wall of the Sinn Féin headquarters on the... Kenneth Wiggins Maginnis, Baron Maginnis of Drumglass (born January 21, 1938) is a Northern Irish Ulster Unionist politician. ... James Molyneaux Ulster Unionist Party leader from 1979—1995. ...

His nephew is James Cooper, a previous chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party ) is a moderate unionist political party in Northern Ireland, which formed its government between 1921 and 1972 and was supported by most unionists throughout the Troubles. ...

External links

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