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| Affiliation | Ulster Unionist |
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| Name | William "Bill" Craig |
| Address |
Belfast, Northern Ireland , United Kingdom |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
December 02, 1924 |
| Died |
April 25, 2011
(86 years) |
| Contributor | Some say... |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Aug 04, 2024 01:48pm |
| Tags |
Air Force -
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| Info | William 'Bill' Craig
Craig was from Cookstown, County Tyrone. After serving in the Royal Air Force (as a Lancaster bomber rear gunner) during World War II he became a solicitor. He was active in the Ulster Unionist Party and led the Young Unionist Council. He was elected to the Stormont Parliament in a byelection in 1960 for Larne, and became a Minister in 1963. He held several portfolios under Terence O'Neill, eventually as Minister for Home Affairs. His most reknowned action while in this office was to ban the march of NICRA (Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association) on 5th October 1968. He also accused the civil rights movement of being a political front for the IRA.
On December 11, 1968 O'Neill dismissed Craig when he suspected Craig was a supporter of an independent Northern Ireland. Craig began to build a powerbase for himself within Unionism, becoming Head of the Ulster Loyalist Association. The official Unionist Party withdrew the whip from him in May 1970 and Craig then began to prepare his own political party. The Ulster Vanguard movement was formed on February 9, 1972 under Craig's leadership (the Deputy Leaders were the Rev. Martin Smyth and Captain Austin Ardill).
Ulster Vanguard advocated a semi-independent Northern Ireland. Vanguard held a large rally on March 18, 1972 in Belfast's Ormeau Park at which Craig said "We must build up the dossiers on the men and women who are a menace to this country, because one day, ladies and gentlemen, if the politicians fail, it will be our duty to liquidate the 'enemy'". Vanguard also staged a two-day strike in protest at the prorogation of the Stormont Parliament. In April 1972 Vanguard issued a policy statement 'Ulster - A Nation' which said that Northern Ireland might have to consider Independence. Vanguard progressed in March 1973 into the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party.
The Vanguard Unionists under Craig formed part of the United Ulster Unionist Council which opposed the power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement. Craig was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly created under Sunningdale, and he won a seat in the UK Parliament at the February 1974 election for East Belfast. However, in the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in the mid-1970s, Craig broke with the majority of his party to support voluntary power-sharing. The Vanguard Unionists fell apart, with one section forming the United Ulster Unionist Party, and Craig lead the remains of Vanguard to rejoin the Ulster Unionist Party in 1978, but lost his seat in the 1979 election.
Craig subsequently broke with the Ulster Unionists once more. When in 1982 elections were held for the new Northern Ireland Assembly, Craig , revived the name Vanguard for his candidacy in East Belfast. However he failed to get elected, ending his political career.
Member of the Stormont Parliament (for Larne) 1960-1973, Member of Parliament for Belfast East 1974-1979.
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