Ever Reliable Friends ' ?: The Conservative Party and Ulster Unionism in the Twentieth Century

English Historical Review

Volumn 121, Issue 490, 2006, Pages 70-103

  Smith, Jeremy ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85044881015     PISSN: 00138266     EISSN: 14774534     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/ehr/cej003     Document Type: Article

References (171)

1. G. Walker, A History of the Ulster Unionist Party: Protest, Pragmatism and Pessimism (Manchester, 2004), 24.
2. A. Jackson, The Ulster Party: Irish Unionists in the House of Commons, 1884-1911 (Oxford, 1989), 310.
3. A. T. Q. Stewart, The Ulster Crisis: Resistance to Home Rule, 1912-14 (1967);
4. J. Ramsden, The Age of Balfour and Baldwin, 1902-1940 (1978), 65-86;
5. D. Dutton, His Majesty's Loyal Opposition (Liverpool, 1992), 203-51;
6. P. Bew, Ideology and the Irish Question, 1912-1916 (Oxford, 1994); J. Smith, The Tories and Ireland: Conservative Party Politics and the Home Rule Crisis, 1910-1914 (Dublin, 2000).
7. Smith, Tories and Ireland, 67-70;
8. R. J. Q. Adams, Bonar Law (London, 1999), 109.
9. B. Faulkner, Memoirs of a Statesman (1978), 153.
10. Meetings of the Ulster Unionist Party at Westminster, 11 April 1972: C[onservative] P[arty] A[rchive], B[odleian] L[ibrary], CRD 3/18/1.
11. Meetings of the Ulster Unionist Party at Westminster, 27 March;
12. 11, 18 and 26 April 1972: CPA, BL, CRD 3/18/1.
13. P. Norton, Conservative Dissidents: Dissent within the Parliamentary Conservative Party, 1970-1974 (1978).
14. Ulster Unionists... but they had all been elected on a platform of opposition to the Sunningdale agreement, and I was not willing to jeopardise peace in the province', in E. Heath, Autobiography: The course of My Life (1998), 519-20.
15. see J. Douglas to Webster, Fraser and Wolff, " Semantics of Ulster ", 15 May 1974, Organisation Dept, 'Northern Ireland - 1974 ': CPA, BL, CCO 500/55/4: see also the memorandum ' Ulster Loyalists', by J. Houston, 14 May 1974;
16. Fraser to Webster, 2 Jan. 1973, 'Ulster', Organisation Dept, Northern Ireland - 1973: CPA, BL, CCO 500/55/3.
17. M. Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (1993), 385.
18. ' Northern Ireland - Meeting in Chairman's Offi ce', 13 Dec. 1978, Chairman's Offi ce, Airey Neave, 1974-1979: CPA, BL, CCO 20/1/22.
19. P. Dixon, '" The Usual English Doubletalk ": The British Political Parties and the Ulster Unionists, 1974-1994', Irish Political Studies, 9 (1994);
20. and idem, 'The British Labour Party and Northern Ireland, 1959-1974 ' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Bradford, 1993).
21. ' Northern Ireland - Meeting in Chairman's Offi ce', 13 Dec. 1978, Chairman's Offi ce, Airey Neave, 1974-1979: CPA, BL, CCO 20/1/22.
22. A. Aughey, Under Siege: Ulster Unionism and the Anglo-Irish Agreement (Belfast, 1989).
23. B. O'Leary, 'The Conservative Stewardship of Northern Ireland, 1979-1997: Soundbottomed or Slow-learning?', Political Studies, 44, 4 (1997), 663-76.
24. Minutes of the Conservative Back-bench Committee on Northern Ireland, 1973-1975, 10 April 1974: CPA, BL, CRD 4/15/1.
25. M. Cunningham, 'Conservative Dissidents and the Irish Question: the Pro-Integrationist Lobby', Irish Political Studies, 10 (1995), 26-40.
26. D. Hogg, The Door Wherein I Went (1975), 239-42;
27. also P. Dixon, '" A House Divided Cannot Stand ": Britain, Bi-partisanship and Northern Ireland ', Contemporary Studies (1995), 147-87.
28. A. Aughey, 'Unionism, Conservatism and the Anglo-Irish Agreement', in D. G. Boyce and A. O'Day (ed.), Defenders of the Union;
29. A Survey of British and Irish Unionism (2001), 298.
30. J. Loughlin, Ulster Unionism and British National Identity since 1885 (1995), 91.
31. B. Faulkner, Memoirs of a Statesman (1978), 22.
32. F. Tughan, 'Conservative and Unionist Party: Minutes of a Meeting held in London 14 Oct 1969 ': U[lster] U[nionist] P[arty] A[rchive], P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffi ce of] N[orthern] I[reland], D.1327/17/54.
33. J. F. Harbinson, The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882-1973: Its Development and Organisation (Belfast, 1973), 104.
34. J. Moore, Ulster Unionism and the British Conservative Party: A Study of a Failed Marriage (1997), 9.
35. P. Norton, 'Conservative Politics and the Abolition of Stormont', in P. Catterall and S. McDoughall (ed.), The Northern Ireland Question in British Politics (1996), 129.
36. M. Cunningham, 'An Historical Coda: Some Refl ections on the Conservatives and the Irish Question, 1949-1951 ', Irish Political Studies, 14 (1999), 132.
37. J. Ramsden, The Age of Churchill and Eden, 1940-1957 (London, 1995) and idem, Winds of Change: Macmillan to Heath, 1957-1975 (1996).
38. R. Blake, A History of the Conservative Party: From Peel to Thatcher (1985), 261.
39. F. W. S. Craig, British General Election Manifestos, 1900-1974 (1975), 37.
40. I. Gilmour, Inside Right: Conservatism, Policies and the People (1977);
41. P. Norton and A. Aughey, Conservatives and Conservatism (1981);
42. R. Eatwell and N. O'Sullivan (ed.), The Nature of the Right: American and European Politics and Political Thought Since 1789 (1989);
43. J. Barnes, 'Ideology and Faction', in A. Seldon and S. Ball (ed.), Conservative Century: The Conservative Party since 1900 (Oxford, 1994);
44. M. Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Oxford, 1998): E. Green, Ideologies of Conservatism: Conservative Political Ideas in the Twentieth Century (Oxford, 2002).
45. M. Bentley, Lord Salisbury's World: Conservative Environments in Late Victorian Britain (Cambridge, 2001), 63.
46. J. Smith, Tories and Ireland, 10-19. See also P. Bew, Ideology and the Irish Question, 1912-1916 (Oxford, 1994).
47. J. Smith, 'Conservative Ideology and Representations of the Union with Ireland, 1884-1914', in M. Francis and I. Zweiniger-Bargielowska (ed.), The Conservatives in British Society, 1880-1980 (Cardiff, 1996).
48. S. Evans, 'The Conservatives and the Redefi nition of Unionism, 1912-1921 ', Twentieth Century British History, 9 (1998), 1-27.
49. P. Williamson, Stanley Baldwin: Conservative Leadership and National Values (Cambridge, 1999).
50. T. Wilson, 'Ulster and Eire', in W. A. Robson (ed.), The Political Quarterly in the Thirties (1971), 214.
51. Loughlin, on the other hand, argues for a continued vitality in Tory - Unionist connections during the ' 20s and ' 30s: see his Ulster Unionism and British National Identity, 91-5.
52. N. Mccrillis, The British Conservative Party in the Age of Universal Suffrage: Popular Conservatism, 1918-1929 (Columbus, 1998).
53. B. O'Leary and J. McGarry, The Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland (London, 1993), 112-25.
54. Chapman-Walker, 'Report on a Visit to Northern Ireland', 19 Feb 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/2/21.
55. ' Trip to Northern Ireland', Thomas to Woolton, 20 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/1/20.
56. ' Meeting on Ulster Publicity', 25 Feb. 1964, CPA, BL, CCO 2/6/23.
57. M. Mulholland, Ulster at the Crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neil Years, 1960-9 (2000), ch. 3.
58. Mr Van Straubenzee, 'Special Memo by of his visit to the Young Unionist Weekend School', Oct. 1952: CPA, BL, CCO 2/3/22.
59. Sir C. Graham, speech delivered at a dinner in the House of Commons in reply to a speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Friday 29 April 1960, PRONI, UUPA, D.1327/17/14.
60. Ramsden, Winds of Change.
61. Faulkner, Memoirs of a Statesman, 38-53. See also Mulholland, Ulster at the Crossroads, ch. 5.
62. Mr Thomas to Woolton, 'Trip to Northern Ireland', 20 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/1/20.
63. Mr Whitelock to chairman, sent extract from The Observer, 15 Nov. 1959: CPA, BL, CRD 2/45/1.
64. Ibid., Central Offi ce to Douglas, 3 Dec. 1959.
65. K. Bloomfi eld, Stormont in Crisis: A Memoir (Belfast, 1994), 67-8.
66. S. A. Walker to Douglas, 13 April 1962: CPA, BL, CCO 2/6/23.
67. Central Offi ce to Sir Knox Cunningham, 21 June 1962: CPA, BL, CRD 2/45/1.
68. Thomas to Douglas, 25 Jan. 1951: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/6.
69. R. Gramsden to Douglas, 10 Nov. 1951: ibid., D.1327/16/2/28.
70. Douglas to Adamson, 12 Nov. 1951: ibid., D.1327/16/2/28.
71. T. Bartlett, 'Ulster, 1600-2000: Posing the Question', Bullan, 4 (1998), 5-18.' 67. P. Dixon, '" A House Divided Cannot Stand" '.
72. Formal ties between the party organisations, though badly hit by events of 1972-4, lasted until 1986 when in the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 they were fi nally dissolved.
73. Garmonsway to Bagnall, 3 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
74. Douglas to Streatfi eld, 1 Dec. 1961: CPA, BL, CCO 2/6/23.
75. R. Lewis to Bailie, 5 March 1968: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/48.
76. F. Tughan, 'Conservative and Unionist Party ': Minutes of a Meeting held in London, 14 Oct. 1969: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/54.
77. Of thirteen MPs returned for Northern Ireland - after 1948 this was reduced to twelve - Ulster Unionists usually returned anything between ten and twelve representatives from 1922 to 1970. Only at the October 1951 general election did their tally fall to nine.
78. Harbinson, Ulster Unionist Party, 105.
79. Seldon and Ball, Conservative Century, 778.
80. Norton, Conservative Politics and the Abolition of Stormont, 130-1.
81. Garmonsway Memorandum, 'Northern Ireland', 4 March 1955: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
82. To give it its full title, the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations or NUCUA for short.
83. Streatfi eld to Chief Organisation Offi cer, 'Re: Ulster', 3 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18: Conservative Research Dept paper, 'Ulster and the Conservative Party', 1 April 1974, CCO 500/55/4.
84. Aughey sees ' a general and mutual incomprehension ' between the British Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists during and after the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 in ' Unionism, Conservatism and the Anglo-Irish Agreement', in Boyce and O'Day, Defenders of the Union, 294.
85. My argument is that this was evident as far back as the early 1950 s.
86. Mr Van Straubenzee ' Special Memo of his visit to the Young Unionist Weekened School', Oct. 1952: CPA, BL, CCO 2/3/22.
87. E. Adamson, 'Ulster Unionists: Unionist not Conservative', 4 March 1955: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
88. D. Savory to Pierssene, 2 Aug. 1949: CPA, BL CCO 2/1/20: see also Miss Spencer to General Director, 19 Dec. 1949: ibid.
89. ' Election Addresses', 1953: Ford Papers, PRONI, D/3437/D/4/4.
90. Henry M'Coy to Douglas, 30 March 1951: ' General Elections to the Imperial Parliament ': UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/16/36.
91. Gage to H. Burdge, 9 July 1952: Connolly Gage papers, PRONI, D.3211/1/2/50.
92. CRD Paper, Appendix A, 'Ulster Unionists: Strictly confi dential', 5 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/7/14.
93. Chapman-Walker, 'Report on a Visit to Northern Ireland', 19 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/2/21.
94. Briefi ng document sent to E. Du Cann, Ulster Unionists', June 1965: CPA, BL, CCO 2/7/14.
95. CRD Paper, Appendix B, 'Ulster and the Conservative Party', 1 April 1974: CPA, BL, CCO 500/55/4.
96. Miss Spencer to COO, memorandum, 'Ulster: Advice on Money Raising', 14 March 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/2/21: also Pierssene to Douglas, 3 April 1951: ibid.
97. Miss Kingham to Miss Walker, 1 Jan. 1965: CPA, BL, CCO 2/7/14.
98. Douglas to Simms (Conservative Publicity Offi cer), 6 and 7 April 1960: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/16/2/43.
99. G. Currie to Central Offi ce, 23 April 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
100. Horton to General Director, 24 April 1956: ibid.
101. Horton to Currie, 26 April 1956: ibid.
102. R. Chichester-Clarke to Kaberry, 17 July 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
103. Kaberry to Chichester-Clarke, 19 July 1956: ibid.
104. Poole to Pierssene, 18 Dec. 1956: ibid.
105. S.McMahon to Sir Toby Low, 11 Nov. 1959: ibid.
106. Sir C. Graham to J. P. L. Thomas, 14 April 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/2/21.
107. Sir C. Graham to O. Poole, 20 Jan. 1958: CPA, BL, CCO 2/5/22.
108. Thomas to Woolton, 'Trip to Northern Ireland', 20 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/1/20.
109. J. S. Doherty, 'The Partition of Ireland', in Free Enterprise, Morepath Young Conservative Journal, Oct. 1949: CPA, BL, CCO 2/1/20.
110. Douglas to Pierssene, 4 Nov. 1949: ibid.
111. Pierssene to Douglas, 7 Nov. 1949: ibid.
112. Douglas to Pierssene, 4 Nov. 1949: ibid.
113. Reed to Pierssene, 8 Nov. 1949: ibid.
114. I. Macleod to Brig. G. Clarke, 21 Nov. 1949: ibid.
115. I. Macleod to Miss M. Maxse, 2 Dec. 1949: ibid.
116. Mrs T. Carter to Miss Maxse, 27 Nov. 1949: CPA, BL, CCO 2/1/20.
117. Chapman-Walker to Woolton, 'Report on visit to Northern Ireland', 21 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/2/21.
118. Thomas to Woolton, 'Trip to Northern Ireland', 20 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/1/20.
119. R. Chichester-Clarke to D. Kaberry, 17 July 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
120. Chapman-Walker, 'Report on a visit to Northern Ireland', 19 Feb. 1951: CPA, BL, CCO 2/2/21.
121. D. Kaberry to E. Heath, 21 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
122. G. B. Currie to Horton, 25 April 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
123. R. J. Jackson, Rebels and Whips: An Analysis of Dissension, Discipline and Cohesion in British Political Parties (1968), 275-8.
124. Ibid., 278.
125. At the bottom of the letter the G.D. noted, 'I think the Chief Whip ought to see the papers', Brooke to General Director, 29 Nov. 1955: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
126. CRD Paper, Appendix A, 'Ulster Unionists: Strictly confi dential', 5 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/7/14.
127. Poole to Douglas, 18 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
128. Sir C. Graham to Kaberry, 22 March 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
129. Douglas to Mr Christ, 11 March 1957 and reply Christ to Douglas, 16 March 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/5/22.
130. Pierssene to Poole, 22 Jan. 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
131. R. Dorman-Smith, 'Notes on Ireland', Jan. 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
132. Pierssene to Poole, 22 Jan. 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
133. CRD Paper, Block to Pierssene, 'Northern Ireland', 3 Jan. 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
134. Sir C. Graham to Poole, 9 March 1957: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
135. C. Otto (Eden's secretary) to F. Younge, 5 Sept. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
136. Poole to Lord Brookeborough, 25 Oct. 1956: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/10.
137. Streatfi eld to Douglas, 2 Dec. 1957: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/10.
138. Kaberry to E. Heath, 21 Dec. 1956: CPA, BL, CCO 2/4/18.
139. Walker, Ulster Unionist Party, 139-41.
140. P. Bew, H. Patterson and P. Gibbon, Northern Ireland, 1921-2001: Political Forces and Social Classes (2002), 116-27.
141. P. Bishop and E. Mallie, The Provisional IRA (Aylesbury 1987), 43-5.
142. Sir Austin Strutt, 'Report of Meeting S of S, Lord Howe and Sir A, Clutterbuck', 4 Sept. 1959: H[ome] O[ffi ce] 284/46, P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffi ce Kew].
143. Lord Brookeborough to Butler, 16 Sept. 1959: ibid.
144. Butler to Lord Brookeborough, 10 Sept. 1959: ibid.
145. Butler to Sir A. Douglas-Hume, 18 Sept. 1959: ibid.
146. ' Note of a Meeting between Alport, M of S at CRO and Sir David Campbell on Tuesday 17 Nov. 1959 ': ibid.
147. 'Note of Meeting between S of St for HO and Sir David Campbell on 24 Nov. 1959: ibid.
148. Robin Chichester-Clarke to the Tory Chief Whip, CRO to Dublin Embassy, Telegram no. 137, 8 Dec. 1959: ibid.
149. Report of follow-up telegram from Chief Whip, CRO to Dublin Embassy, Telegram no. 137, 8 Dec. 1959: ibid.
150. Mulholland, Ulster at the Crossroads, 45.
151. ' Notes prepared by Ld Brookeborough and given to the PM for further consideration', 18 Nov. 1960: PREM (Prime Minister), 11/3897, PRO.
152. Bew, Patterson and Gibbon, Northern Ireland, 121.
153. J. Sayers to C. Gage, 12 July 1961: Connolly Gage Papers, PRONI D.3211/1/4/9.
154. ' Text of a Speech Delivered on Friday 29 April 1960 at a Dinner in the House of Commons by Sir C. Graham ': UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/14.
155. Mulholland, Ulster at the Crossroads, 18;
156. Walker, Ulster Unionist Party, 143.
157. Sir D. Campbell to H. Macmillan, 16 July 1962: PREM 11/3896, PRO.
158. P. Woodfi eld to Glanville (HO), 18 July 1962: ibid.
159. R. Chichester-Clarke to M. Redmayne, May 1963: PREM 11/4271, PRO.
160. P. Woodfi eld to M. Redmayne, 10 July 1963: Ibid.
161. NILP, 'The 1 964 General Election', U lster's Future, 1964: UUPA, PRONI D.1327/16/2/55a.
162. ' Election Leafl ets, 1964', Unionists at Westminster: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/16/2/43.
163. ' Northern Ireland under the Conservatives: Private and Confi dential: For Candidates Only', Oct. 1965: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/30.
164. J. Bailie to W. Ridgwell, 4 Aug. 1964: UUPA, 'General elections to the Imperial Parliament', PRONI, D.1327/16/2/55a.
165. Sir A. Douglas-Hume, Letter to the Northern Irish People, 25 Sept. 1964: UUPA, 'General elections to the Imperial Parliament', PRONI, D.1327/16/2/55a.
166. R. Grosvenor, 'Extracts for Publishing in the Monthly Newsletter', 9 Aug. 1964: UUPA, PRONI, D.1327/17/42.
167. J. Sayers to C. Gage, 10 April 1964: Connolly Gage Papers, PRONI, D.3211/1/4/14. Sayers's estimation that Northern Ireland would benefi t much more, in a fi nancial sense, from a Labour rather than a Tory government, would prove to be well founded.
168. Dixon, 'A House Divided '.
169. Hogg, Door Wherein I Went, 239-41.
170. P. Rose, How the Troubles came to Northern Ireland (2000), 29.
171. Dixon argues that during the Troubles Unionists probably fared better at the hands of the Labour Party, see Dixon, 'The Usual English Doubletalk '.