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| Affiliation | Independent |
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| Name | Gerry Fitt |
| Address |
Belfast, Northern Ireland , United Kingdom |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
April 09, 1926
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| Died | August 26, 2005
(79 years)
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| Contributor | Easily Offended Man |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Jul 12, 2024 03:17am |
| Tags |
Irish - Catholic -
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| Info | Socialist politician and civil rights activist. The first Catholic representing a constituency in Northern Ireland to sit in the Commons for decades and Deputy Chief Executive in the short-lived powersharing arrangement created at Sunningdale, Fitt was a founding member of the SDLP and its first leader, but broke with the party following its movement away from the Socialist politics advocated by Fitt towards the moderate nationalism associated with John Hume.
Throughout his career in the Commons he voted in a manner consistent with the Labour whip, except on votes relating to Northern Ireland and on the vote of no confidence against the Callaghan government in 1979 on which he abstained due to disagreement with government policy on Northern Ireland. Following his break with the SDLP, Fitt sat as an Independent Socialist until his defeat in 1983. Fitt was an outspoken opponent of the Provisional IRA and his Belfast home was attacked on several occasions, before being firebombed in 1983, after which Fitt moved to London.
Fitt was nominated for a peerage by the then Labour leader Michael Foot and served in the House of Lords until his death in 2005.
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