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‘TAME TORY HACKS’?1 THE ULSTER PARTY AT WESTMINSTER, 1922–1972*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2011

ALVIN JACKSON
ALVIN JACKSON*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Doorway 4, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AGalvin.jackson@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

While the historiography on Ulster Unionism after partition has grown considerably in recent years, there has been no extended investigation of Unionism at Westminster (‘the Ulster Party’), its structures and effectiveness. This article uses new archival material to shed light upon the Party's membership, governance, coherence, and wider engagement. The later sections of the article review the nature of the ties binding the Party to Stormont and to Conservatism, unravelling some of their complexity, and placing a particular emphasis upon the relationship between Westminster Unionism and the fall of the devolved government in 1972. Here, new evidence is adduced from several underexploited or fresh sources to shed light upon the workings of the Party in the years immediately before this debacle. It is argued that the Westminster Unionists' (at best) highly ambiguous reaction to direct rule was a fitting culmination to fifty years of often jealous and defensive interaction with Stormont.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 453 - 475
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

1

David Jeffcock, Conservative Research Department Memorandum, 24 Aug. 1965 (referring to a comment by George Brown), Cambridge, Churchill College, Robin Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/3.

*

The author is grateful to the British Academy and the Carnegie Trust for supporting the research which underpins this article. He is also grateful to Andrew Riley at the Archive Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, for help with the Chichester-Clark papers.

References

2 [F. Frankfort Moore], The diary of an Irish cabinet minister (Belfast, 1893), and The Viceroy Muldoon (Belfast, 1893). For a variant of the argument see A. V. Dicey, A leap in the dark: a criticism of the principles of Home Rule as illustrated by the bill of 1893 (London, 1911), pp. 38–9.

3 Philip Norton, ‘Conservative politics and the abolition of Stormont’, in Peter Catterall and Sean MacDougall, eds., The Northern Ireland question in British politics (London, 1996), p. 130; John Harbinson, The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882–1973: its development and organisation (Belfast, 1973), p. 106.

4 E.g. the excellent studies by Graham Walker, A history of the Ulster Unionist Party: protest, pragmatism and pessimism (Manchester, 2004), pp. 179, 196, and by Marc Mulholland, Northern Ireland at the crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neill years, 1960–1969 (London, 2000), p. 163, which stresses the Westminster Unionists’ ‘inarticulateness’ in 1968–9.

5 Harbinson, Ulster Unionist Party, pp. 97–106. None of the most important recent studies of post-partition Unionism – Walker, History; Henry Patterson and Eric Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland since 1945 (Manchester, 2007); or Mulholland, Northern Ireland at the crossroads – is primarily concerned with Westminster Unionism. Smith, Jeremy, ‘ “Ever reliable friends?”: the Conservative Party and Ulster in the twentieth century’, English Historical Review, 121, 490 (Feb. 2006), pp. 70–103CrossRefGoogle Scholar, contains some mention of the Westminster MPs, but is concerned with the evolution of the wider relationship between Conservatism and Unionism, particularly from the perspective of the former. For the use of ‘Blimp’ or ‘blimpish’ in these contexts see, for example, Walker, History, p. 156, and Andrew Gailey, ed., Crying in the wilderness: Jack Sayers, a liberal editor in Ulster, 1963–1969 (Belfast, 1995), p. 94. Compare Alvin Jackson, The Ulster Party: Irish Unionists in the House of Commons, 1884–1911 (Oxford, 1989), pp. 53–113, where the problems of assessing the distinctiveness and achievement of the Edwardian Ulster Party are reviewed.

6 Undated memorandum, Belfast, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Montgomery Hyde papers, D.3084/I/B/3.

7 Harbinson, Ulster Unionist Party, p. 100. Compare Michael Rush, The role of the Member of Parliament since 1868: from gentlemen to players (Oxford, 2001), p. 133.

8 Rush, Role of the Member of Parliament, p. 99.

9 Ibid., p. 98.

10 Robin Chichester-Clark (RCC) to McCay, 29 May 1954, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/12. For Robin Chichester-Clark see, for example, Clive Scoular, James Chichester-Clark, prime minister of Northern Ireland (Killyleagh, 2000), pp. 26–32. For Hugh O'Neill and his nephew see Alvin Jackson, Home Rule: an Irish history, 1800–2000 (London, 2003), p. 239. For the limits of local party organization see Patterson and Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism, pp. 4–5.

11 McCay to RCC, 9 July 1954, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/12. For the impecuniousness of local Unionism see Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, p. 87.

12 Jack Sayers to RCC, 2 July 1964; RCC to Sayers (copy), 5 July 1963, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/6. See Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, p. 87.

13 Hyde to Noble, 23 Feb. 1959, Montgomery Hyde papers, D.3084/I/A/2/41. See also Jayne Campbell to ‘Dear Piggy’, 21 Jan. 1959, D.3084/I/A/3/9. Harbinson, Ulster Unionist Party, p. 83.

14 Norton, ‘Conservative politics’, p. 130. For Londonderry see evaluations by Ian Kershaw, Making friends with Hitler: Lord Londonderry and the roots of appeasement (London, 2004), and N. C. Fleming, The marquess of Londonderry: aristocracy, power and politics in Britain and Ireland (London, 2005).

15 W. J. Allen to Baldwin, 3 June 1929, Cambridge University Library, Baldwin papers, v.37, fos. 9–10.

16 ‘Leaves of memory’, Montgomery Hyde papers, D.3084/A/7/1, fo. 290. Interview with Rt Hon. H. V. Kirk, Belfast, 6 Sept. 2004. Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, p. 85.

17 Rush, Role of the Member of Parliament, pp. 159–60. Ulster Unionist figures compiled from Hansard, 5th ser., vol. 221 (1928 session), Hansard, 5th ser., vol. 455 (1947–8 session) and Hansard, 5th ser., vol. 665 (1961–2).

18 Jackson, Home Rule, pp. 211–12; Kevin Matthews, Fatal influence: the impact of Ireland on British politics, 1920–1925 (Dublin, 2004), pp. 206, 217.

19 Macnaghten to Craig, 5 May 1924, 18 June 1924, 22 June 1924, 24 June 1924, Belfast, PRONI, CAB 9Z/11/1.

20 D. D. Reid to Craig, 16 Oct. 1925, PRONI, CAB 9Z/2/2.

21 H. Pollock to Reid, 15 Nov. 1929, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/1.

22 Brooke to Savory, 8 June 1943, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2. Harbinson gives an abbreviated and inaccurate summary of these connections in Ulster Unionist Party, p. 103.

23 Robert Gransden, ‘Memorandum on liaison between the Northern Ireland government and Ulster Imperial Members. Meeting, 19 January 1944’, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2.

24 Interview with the Rt Hon. H. V. Kirk, Belfast (20 Sept. 2004). For a general summary of the relationship between Stormont and the Labour government after the Second World War see Brian Barton, ‘The impact of World War II on Northern Ireland and Belfast–London relations’, in Catterall and McDougall, eds., Northern Ireland question, pp. 63–4.

25 Minutes of a meeting between the prime minister and the Ulster Party, 18 Mar. 1947, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2.

26 Minutes of a meeting between the prime minister and the Ulster Party, 23 Oct. 1947, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2.

27 Haughton to Gransden, 20 May 1946, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2.

28 Chuter Ede to Attlee, 9 May 1949, Bodleian Library Oxford, Clement Attlee papers, dep. 82, fo. 311.

29 Haughton to Gransden, 18 July 1950, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2.

30 O'Neill to RCC, 16 Nov. 1959, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/5.

31 Diary notes, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/22.

32 Craig to RCC, 10 July 1962, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/5.

33 Minute, Liaison Committee, 12 June 1963, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/6.

34 JCC to RCC, 3 July 1963, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/6.

35 RCC to JCC, 21 Nov. 1963, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/7.

36 RCC to JCC, 21 Jan. 1971, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/22.

37 RCC? to JCC?, n.d., Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/22.

38 ‘Meeting between Ulster Unionist Party and Edward Heath in the House of Commons’, 16 Dec. 1971, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/23.

39 ‘Secret: working paper of the Unionist parliamentary party at Westminster’, Apr. 1972, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK, 3/24.

40 ‘Minutes of a meeting’, 18 Apr. 1972, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/37.

41 Norton, ‘Conservative politics’, pp. 137–8.

42 Craigavon to Eyres-Monsell, 5 Dec. 1928, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/1. See e.g. ‘Constituency files, Area O: Northern Ireland, Aug. 1950 – Aug. 1951’, Bodleian Library, Oxford, Conservative Party Archive, CCO 1/8 (part of a sequence of files dealing with Westminster elections in Northern Ireland). Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, p. 84 (though Smith distinguishes between the organizational closeness and ideological drift between the two parties).

43 Craigavon to Baldwin, 28 May 1929, Baldwin papers, v.36, fo. 182.

44 Craigavon to Baldwin, 28 July 1930, Baldwin papers, v.31, fo. 138.

45 Brooke to Ross, 20 Nov. 1945, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/2.

46 Ivan Neill, Church and state (Dunmurry, 1995), p. 58. Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, p. 83, makes the case for a growing divergence in the 1950s and 1960s.

47 Buchan Hepburn to Brooke, 9 July 1954, PRONI, CAB 9J/6/4; Smith, ‘Ever reliable friends’, pp. 95–101, ably chronicles the cooling of this relationship in the later 1950s.

48 Alastair Horne, Macmillan, 1957–1986: volume II of the official biography (London, 1989), p. 161.

49 Walker, History, p. 144. Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, pp. 97–9. The ‘crisis of expectations’ in the relationship between the Ulster Party and Macmillan's government was foreshadowed by a similar ‘crisis’ in the relationship between the Edwardian Ulster Party and the Balfour government: see Jackson, Ulster Party, pp. 281–3.

50 E.g. Thomas Hennessey, The origins of the Troubles (Dublin, 2005), p. 110; Peter Rose, How the Troubles came to Northern Ireland (London, 2000), pp. 29, 35.

51 Attorney general to Wilson, 5 Apr. 1965, The National Archives, Kew (TNA), PREM 13/1663.

52 Memorandum of a meeting between Terence O'Neill and Harold Wilson, 19 May 1965, TNA, PREM 13/1663. Bloomfield to RCC, 6 Oct. 1965, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/6.

53 Wilson to lord president of the council, 31 Jan. 1966, TNA, PREM 13/1663. See also Rose, Troubles, pp. 35–6, 62, 77, 174, 177.

54 Note for the record of 12 Jan. 1967 meeting, TNA, PREM 13/2266. See Hennessey, Origins, p. 116, which mentions the meeting, but not all aspects of its fall-out.

55 Diary notes, 1967–8, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/22.

56 Bloomfield to RCC, 20 Feb. 1967, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/4.

57 Diary notes, 1967–8, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/22.

58 Summary note of a meeting with the prime minister of Northern Ireland, 4 Nov. 1968, TNA, PREM 13/2847. The meeting, but not the allusions to the Westminster Unionists, is discussed in Hennessey, Origins, p. 155.

59 Norton, ‘Conservative politics’, pp. 131ff.

60 Peter Emery, ‘1922 Committee: election of a leader’, 23 July 1965', Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 7/1.

61 Airey Neave to RCC, 17 Jan. 1969, Patrick Jenkin to RCC, 23 Jan.1969, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/9; RCC to Bernard Weatherall, David Waddington, John Osborn, Harry Legge-Bourke, Oct. 1968, CCLK 3/28.

62 Deedes to RCC, 10 Sept. 1970, Ridley to RCC, 28 Feb. 1970, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/14, 20.

63 Goodhard to RCC, 23 Mar. 1971, Biffen to RCC, 26 Mar. 1971, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/22; Biffen, copy of speech to Cambridge Young Conservatives, 27 Sept. 1971, CCLK 3/23. Cf. Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, pp. 72–3, quoting Biffen in Apr. 1974, on the eve of the failure of the Executive.

64 Faulkner to RCC, 14 Jan. 1972, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/10.

65 For the growing tensions see e.g. Mills to Pym, 15 Oct. 1971, Chichester-Clark papers, e.g. CCLK 3/23.

66 RCC to Maudling, 12 July 1970, TNA, PREM 15/101. See also Smith, Jeremy, ‘“Walking a real tightrope of difficulties”: Sir Edward Heath and the search for stability in Northern Ireland’, Twentieth Century British History, 18, (2007), pp. 219–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Paul Arthur, ‘The Heath government and Northern Ireland’, in Stuart Ball and Anthony Seldon, eds., The Heath government, 1970–1974: a reappraisal (London, 1996), p. 241.

67 Minute of a meeting between Chichester-Clark, Heath, and Maudling, 17 July 1970, TNA, PREM 15/101.

68 Heath to Trend, 30 July 1970, TNA, PREM 15/101.

69 Heath to Armstrong, 25 Oct. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/474.

70 Chichester-Clark to Heath, 1 Dec. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/474.

71 Orr to Maudling, 23 Nov. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/474.

72 Chichester-Clark to Heath, 1 Dec. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/474. Cf. Smith, ‘Walking a real tightrope’, pp. 248–9.

73 Maudling to Heath, 31 Dec. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/474.

74 E.g. Michael Latham to Heath, 6 Aug. 1970, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/22.

75 Trend to Heath, 1 Mar. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/1003; Heath to the queen, 9 Mar. 1970, TNA, PREM 15/1004. For a narrative of the count-down to prorogation, see Thomas Hennessey, The evolution of the Troubles, 1970–1972 (Dublin, 2007), pp. 322–40.

76 Robert Ramsay, Ringside seats: an insider's view of the crisis in Northern Ireland (Dublin, 2009), pp. 106–7.

77 Smith to Home Office, 4 Mar. 1972 (telegram), TNA, PREM 15/1003.

78 Minutes of a meeting between Reginald Maudlin, RCC, and W. S. Mills, 17 Feb. 1972, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/37. This meeting is not mentioned in Hennessey, Evolution of the Troubles.

79 ‘Notes of a meeting at the House of Commons, 7 March 1972’, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/37.

80 Memorandum of a meeting between the prime minister and the Ulster Unionist MPs, 29 Feb. 1972, TNA, PREM 15/1003. This meeting is not mentioned in Hennessey, Evolution of the Troubles.

81 Minute of meeting by Stratton Mills, 29 Feb. 1972, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 3/14.

82 Faulkner to RCC, 8 Mar. 1972, Chichester-Clark papers, CCLK 1/2.

83 Record of a discussion between Lord Grey of Naunton and the prime minister, 21 Mar. 1972, TNA, PREM 15/1004.

84 Trend to prime minister, 24 Feb. 1972, TNA, PREM 15/1003.

85 Norton, ‘Conservative politics’, p. 134. Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’, p. 71.

86 Notes on Edward Heath's Course of my life, CCLK 1/22.

87 See Smith, ‘ “Ever reliable friends” ’.