Brief
Biography:
Born in the Shankill Road area of Belfast, Bob McCartney was educated at Grosvenor Grammar School, Belfast, and Queen's University Belfast. McCartney then pursued a legal career, qualifying as a solicitor in 1962, being called to the bar in 1968, and becoming a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1975. His first involvement in politics came in the early 1980s and he was subsequently elected in October 1982 to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) representing the constituency of North Down (1982-86). In 1987 however an internal party dispute saw him expelled from the UUP. As a result he stood at the 1987 Westminster election as a 'Real Unionist' in the North Down seat and although he polled well he failed to defeat the sitting MP, James Kilfedder. The death of Kilfedder in 1995 however prompted McCartney to contest the by-election in June 1995 and in a surprise result he became the new MP for North Down (1995-2001).
Opposed to the evolving 'Peace Process' McCartney then formed the United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKUP) to contest the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in May 1996. Along with two of his party colleagues he was elected to this new body and the UKUP initially participated in the multi-party talks that began in June 1996. Their scepticism over these negotiations however was clear and this led to them withdrawing on frequent occasions in protest at the form these discussions were taking. When Sinn Féin (SF) entered the discussions in the summer of 1997 the UKUP joined the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in formally leaving the negotiations. As a result McCartney voiced his opposition to the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of April 1998 and campaigned for a 'No' vote in the referendum of May 1998.
At the elections to the new Northern Ireland Assembly he led the UKUP to win five seats and the party became closely associated with the anti-GFA faction in the Assembly. Behind the scenes however relations within the UKUP, between McCartney and his Assembly colleagues, deteriorated as a result of differences over policy and also personality clashes. In January 1999 this resulted in four UKUP Assembly members departing to form their own political grouping and leaving McCartney as the sole representative of the UKUP in the Assembly (1998-present). A further blow to McCartney then came at the Westminster general election of June 2001 when he lost his North Down seat to the UUP.
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