Reverend William Martin Smyth (born June 15, 1931) is a Northern Ireland 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. June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... Motto: [citation needed] (French for God and my right)2 Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, NI Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair... In the context of Irish politics, Unionists are people in Northern Ireland, who wish to see the continuation of the Act of Union 1800, as amended by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, under which Northern Ireland, created in that latter Act, remains part of the United Kingdom of Great... 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. ... 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. ... Creation 1922 MP Alasdair McDonnell Party Social Democratic and Labour Type House of Commons Districts Belfast, Castlereagh EP constituency Northern Ireland Belfast South is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... The Conservative Monday Club (widely known as the Monday Club) is a British right-wing [1] pressure-group with its origins in the Conservative Party. ...

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. Modern logo of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (or PCI) has a membership of 300,000 people in 650 congregations across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, though the bulk of the membership is in Northern Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Downpatrick Area: 2,448 km² Population (est. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ...

Smyth used to be Grand Master of the Orange Order. In the 1970s, he was also a member 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, performing strongly by polling double the electoral quota. Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various military orders of knighthood, a type of religious order including the Knights Templar, a class of sectarian order such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Orange Order, but who in the case of a sovereign order such... now. ... 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 Belfast Telegraph is a daily evening newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland by Independent News and Media. ... Belfast North is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly. ...

He was selected to fill the vacancy caused by the murder of Robert Bradford. 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 was one of the MPs to resign their seats in 1985 in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and subsequently joined the Western Goals Institute as a Vice-President, although how active he was is not clear. The Reverend Robert Bradford (1941–1981) was an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for the South Belfast constituency in Northern Ireland. ... The logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly is a six flowered linen or flax plant, chosen for the plants historical economic importance to the region. ... The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. ... The Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a hard-right pressure group in Britain, formed in 1989 from Western Goals (UK), which originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the US Western Goals Foundation. ...

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". Rev. Martyn Smyth, MP, Andrew Hunter, MP, Sir Alfred Sherman and Harvey Ward, were the speakers. Andrew Hunter gave considerable detail to the meeting concerning top-level links between the IRA and ANC. Andrew Hunter (born January 8, 1943) is a United Kingdom politician and a member of the Orange Order. ... Sir Alfred Sherman, KBE, (born 10 November 1919), journalist, was a public affairs advisor in private practive as Interthought, an adviser to Margaret Thatcher, a co-founder of the Centre for Policy Studies, and a consultant to the Western Goals Institute. ... Harvey Grenville Ward (b. ...

Rev. Smyth ran for the leadership of the UUP in 1995 after James Molyneaux stood down, but lost to David Trimble. He is oposed to the Good Friday Agreement, but not as much as some, and was in 1993 condemned 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, but lost. 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. 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 The September 1995 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election began on August 28, 1995 when James Molyneaux resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party following a year of political setbacks for his party. ... James Molyneaux Ulster Unionist Party leader from 1979—1995. ... The Lord Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble (born 15 October 1944) is a Northern Irish politician who served as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the first First Minister of Northern Ireland. ... The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was signed in Belfast on April 10, 1998 by the British and Irish Governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. ... For other political parties named Democratic Unionist Party, see Democratic Unionist Party (disambiguation). ... Sinn Féin (pronounced in English, in Irish) is a name used by a series of Irish political movements of the 20th century, each of which claimed sole descent from the original party established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. ... David Wilson Boyd Burnside (born August 24, 1951) is a Northern Ireland politician, and was Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for South Antrim. ... Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician and Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley. ... 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 partys direction following the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly elections at the partys annual general meeting on March 27, 2004. ...

In January 2005, he announced he would be stepping down from Parliament at the next election so as 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 Molyneaux publicly endorsed the Democratic Unionist Party candidate Jimmy Spratt instead of the Ulster Unionist candidate Michael McGimpsey in Belfast South. In the event neither man won, 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. James Molyneaux Ulster Unionist Party leader from 1979—1995. ... For other political parties named Democratic Unionist Party, see Democratic Unionist Party (disambiguation). ... Michael McGimpsey (born July 1, 1948) is a Northern Ireland unionist politician, and Ulster Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast South. ... 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. ... Dr Alasdair McDonnell (born 1 September 1949 in Cushendall, County Antrim) is a Northern Irish politician, deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and both a Member of the British Parliament and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for South Belfast. ...

External Link

South Belfast election results