Put bluntly, workable Unionist unity must be built from the grassroots up, not the dictates of the various Unionist party leaders down.
Indeed, linked to the success of such a modern day Vanguard movement will also be the future of Right-wing Unionism in Northern Ireland. This is an issue I’ve written about in the past.
The future success of the Right-wing Unionism to which I have always aspired is intrinsically linked with the ability of ordinary grassroots Protestants, Unionists and Loyalists to mobilise and bond themselves together in a pro-active movement which the Unionist political leadership will heed.
Just as the electoral success of Sinn Fein, the Provisional IRA’s political wing, at Westminster, Assembly and council levels in Northern Ireland has prompted talk of a mythical border poll, the reaction to this among a section of Unionist thinking is that the only way the Union can be saved is to chase after the so-called ‘middle ground’ in politics.
We now have a brand of Unionist politician pushing a woke liberal agenda under the branding of being ‘progressive’, ‘inclusive’ and other fancy Alliance-type rhetoric.
Such politicians fail to recognise that woke liberal Unionist movements have all crashed and burned in the past at the ballot box. The dustbin of history in Northern Ireland is littered with failed attempts at ‘progressive’ woke liberalism.
Before the original Stormont Parliament was prorogued in 1972, woke liberalism rallied to the banner of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. It crashed.
In the early Seventies, woke liberalism again reared its head under the guise of the Pro-Assembly Unionists during the dying days of the power-sharing Sunningdale Executive. That breed of Unionism was effectively electorally wiped out in the two Westminster General Elections of 1974 by various Unionist parties under the joint banner of the United Ulster Unionist Council, also known as the Unionist Coalition, or affectionately known as the ‘Treble UC’.
Next to push the woke liberal agenda was former Northern Ireland Prime Minister Brian Faulkner with his Unionist Party of Northern Ireland. Following his tragic death in the late Seventies, the UPNI was led by Anne Dickson until the party’s eventual demise in the early Eighties.
Other woke liberal disasters within Unionism have included the NI21 party project launched by former UUP MLAs Basil McCrea and John McCallister; the UUP’s ‘Vote Mike, Get Colum’ strategy under the leadership of Mike Nesbitt Mark One, and the UCUNF campaign involving the UUP and Tory Party.
You’ll probably find all these movements filled under the abbreviation ‘WD’ for Woke Disasters.
Unionists of my vintage may point to the fact that the Vanguard Unionist Party is also in the dustbin of history, so has that tactic not been tried before?
Vanguard as a grassroots pressure group was a roaring success at mobilising the pro-Union community. It failed because it decided to become yet another Unionist party, thereby further fragmenting the Unionist vote.
The days after the signing of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave Dublin its first major say in the running of Northern Ireland since partition in the 1920s, saw the emergence of the grassroots Ulster Clubs movement, once fronted by then senior Portadown Orange Chaplain Alan Wright.
It was planned to be a carbon copy of the Unionist Clubs which were established in the early 20th century to mobilise grassroots Unionist opposition to Home Rule.
However, the presence of senior UDA figures at Ulster Clubs meetings turned many middle class Unionist grassroots folk away from the movement with the effective death knell in terms of political influence for the Ulster Clubs coming after the March 1986 Day of Action, which descended into violence against the security forces.
Unionism in 2025 faces a crisis of mobilisation and confidence in the ballot box. Many traditional pro-Union District Electoral Areas (DEAs) are recording voter turnouts of between 40 and 50 per cent.
How many Unionists are on the electoral roll, but have failed to turn out to vote? How many folk in the pro-Union community have not even bothered to get themselves registered to vote in the first place? How much traditional bitterness still remains between the UUP, DUP, TUV, PUP and Independent Unionists who will not transfer to each other down the ballot paper?
If Unionist unity is to become an electoral reality, then the new Vanguard grassroots movement will have to not only address these three key questions, but will have to implement workable solutions.
The pro-Union community needs to swallow the bitter electoral medicine that Unionist seats are being lost because of voter apathy and pig-headedness in not transferring to other pro-Union candidates after giving their initial preferences to their specific Unionist party of choice.
Likewise, traditionally safe Unionist seats, such as Lagan Valley, have been lost at Westminster level because of multiple parties entering the fray and severely fragmenting the vote.
Unionism needs its Right-wing to relaunch the Vanguard movement, whereby the pro-Union grassroots can meet as groups and air their views, fears, anxieties and grievances.
This must be a cross-generational movement and not limited to pensioners who want to talk about the ‘Gud Auld Dayes’ when Unionist MPs enjoyed Commons majorities in the tens of thousands.
But more importantly, they need to ensure the mass registration of pro-Union voters and instil a discipline that come the next elections in just over two years’ time, Unionism sees a maximum turnout and mature transferring on ballot papers.
Then, and only then when the grassroots flex their muscles will the leaderships of the various Unionist parties be forced into electoral unity and the woke liberal agenda defeated once and for all.
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
What a typical collar and tie wearing, good living for living completely missing the obvious "Unionist" article.
ReplyDeleteThe Unionist vote is fragmented because for decades the main Unionist parties have done very little to sweet FA for the working and middle class PUL community, only rallying the votes via fear when elections come around. The resulting complete dereliction of duty to these communities has allowed the morphing of them into hopeless crime and drug ridden baronies, ruled by "Loyalist in Name Only" (LINO's?) drug cartels who are loyal to their own pockets and nothing else. And where was the guidance from the alphabet Unionist political 'leaders'?
The odd talking head whoring themselves on a TV camera for 30 seconds when an incident occurs isn't guidance, it's glib PR. Unionism is going the way of the SDLP in the elections, former glories are becoming a distant memory. The political leaders need to take a long hard look in the mirror if they want to know the reason why.