Jim Allister

James Hugh Allister, QC, known as Jim, (born 2 April 1953 in Crossgar, County Down) is a Northern Ireland unionist politician and senior barrister. He is a former member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and was elected as a member of the European Parliament (succeeding Ian Paisley) in 2004 and serving there until 2009. In the European Parliament, although an avowed Euro-sceptic, he was also a strong supporter of the Common Agricultural Policy.

After attending Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards, Allister graduated with a Bachelor of Law with Honours in Constitutional Law from Queen's University of Belfast. In 1974 he unsuccessfully stood for the post of QUB Students' Union president, coming a very close second against the pro-Irish republican candidate. Allister was chairperson of the DUP's Queen's University branch and led his group, together with right-wing members of the Ulster Unionist Party, in opposition to Irish republican/nationalist students.

He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland as a barrister in 1976, where he specialised in criminal law, and later called to the Senior Bar as a QC; he 'took silk' in 2001. Allister is widely regarded as an expert in Constitutional affairs.

Allister joined the DUP at its founding in 1971. He served as a European Parliament assistant to Ian Paisley from 1980 to 1982. In 1982 he was elected as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont for North Antrim and served as the DUP Assembly Chief Whip. He was also as the Vice-Chairman of Scrutiny Committee of Department of Finance and Personnel from October 1982 to June 1986.

Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in November 1985 by the Thatcher/FitzGerald governments, he was one of the most vocal and active opponents of the treaty. He was also a prominent member of the Joint Unionist Working Party, a body set up by his party and the Ulster Unionist Party to oversee the unionist campaign against the Agreement. His colleagues Peter Robinson and Sammy Wilson were also members. During the unionist 'Day of Action' on Monday 3 March 1986 against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which saw most of Northern Ireland electricity power supplies cut off and its main industry closed down, Jim Allister gained a reputation as one of Unionism's toughest exponents when he led numerous Ulster Loyalists in street protests.

Outside the Stormont Assembly, he was a member of Newtownabbey Borough Council from 1985 to 1987. In 1983, he had stood as a DUP candidate in the Westminster election for East Antrim. Although he was the favourite to win ^[1] he narrowly lost to Roy Beggs. His departure from active politics in June 1987 followed a reported disagreement with Ian Paisley over a unionist voting pact with James Molyneaux's Ulster Unionist Party. The situation resembled fellow unionist politician and barrister Robert McCartney QC in the North Down constituency. Unlike Allister, McCartney would later be expelled by the UUP around the same time for not accepting the policy of the leadership. Interestingly, both Allister and McCartney share the same assessment of the current political process in Northern Ireland, claiming it will ultimately lead to the creation of the political and economic unification of Ireland. The former North Down MP was invited by Allister to speak to the TUV's 2009 annual party conference in Belfast, which McCartney accepted. The two barristers could be a formidable and signifcant opposition against the DUP if they were to join forces.

After a successful period as a lawyer Jim Allister returned to run for the party's nomination for MEP in 2004 after secret approaches by several DUP officials and supporters alike. Allister was elected to the European Parliament for the DUP in the 2004 election. As a member of the DUP, he was generally perceived as being on the right wing of the party.

In March 2005 Allister was the victim of cybersquatting, when a domain advertised on the outside of his office was registered by the Ulster Young Unionist Council before him.^[2] The domain read "Too slow Jim, vote Ulster Unionist"^[3]

On 27 March 2007, he resigned from the DUP because of the party's decision to enter into government with Sinn Féin. It was the second occasion on which he had resigned from the party ^[4]. In the press conference announcing his resignation, he stated that he could never accept Sinn Féin in the government of Northern Ireland while the Provisional IRA Army Council remained in existence. Prior to his resignation, Mr Allister was widely seen in Northern Ireland as a potential candidate for the DUP party leadership.

In late 2007, speculation began over Allister's political intentions, with it being suggested that a new Unionist political party was imminent ^[5]. While it was suggested on 10 October 2007 that he had been approached by the United Kingdom Independence Party,^[6] he proceeded to found the Traditional Unionist Voice on 7 December 2007.^[7]. In the 2009 European elections he gained 66,000 first preference votes and 13.5% of the first preference vote, standing as a TUV candidate, but lost his European parliament seat on the second count. ^[8] He intimated that he might stand as a candidate for the Westminster Parliamentary election in North Antrim. According to the European election result in North Antrim, Jim Allister stands a good chance of winning the seat, which would be a tremendous loss to the DUP - historically the DUP's safest seat in the land and the seat of DUP founder and former party leader Ian Paisley.

Allister's success appears to create problems within Unionism, with the DUP accusing him of splitting the vote. In November 2009, Alex Kane, the Ulster Unionist Party press officer, speculated in his weekly News Letter column that Traditional Unionist Voice could win at least 14 seats in the next Assembly election, an event that would make Allister one of the major players within the Unionist firmament, thus bringing about a catastrophic scenario for the Robinson/Dodds leadership.

See also

• Traditional Unionist Voice

References

External links

• Jim Allister's website
• European Parliament profile
• Leading for Ulster: Speaking for You (a collection of speeches by Jim Allister)
• Maiden Speech : European Parliament - 21 July 2004