James Chichester-Clark

Chichester-Clark, James, Lord Moyola (b. 1923). Prime minister of Northern Ireland. Chichester-Clark was from a landed background. He was Unionist chief whip in the Stormont Parliament (1963-6), leader of the House of Commons (1966-7), and minister of agriculture (1967-9). He deftly united support among both the allies and opponents of the prime minister, O'Neill, when he resigned from the cabinet in April 1969 in opposition to the new local government franchise: he succeeded O'Neill on 1 May. The emergence of the more militant Provisional IRA in early 1971 forced Chichester-Clark to demand a new security initiative from London; and when this was not forthcoming, he resigned, taking a life peerage.

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