Early activism In 1949 Paisley formed a Northern Irish branch of the
National Union of Protestants, the group being led in the UK by his uncle, W. St Clair Taylor. Paisley's first political involvement came at the
1950 general election when he campaigned on behalf of the successful
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate in
Belfast West, the
Church of Ireland minister
James Godfrey MacManaway. The
independent Unionist MP
Norman Porter came to lead the National Union of Protestants, while Paisley became treasurer, but Paisley left after Porter refused to join the Free Presbyterian Church. The UPA was to later become the
Protestant Unionist Party in 1966. UPA factory and workplace branches were formed, including one by Paisley in Belfast's
Ravenhill area under his direct control. The concern of the UPA increasingly came to focus on the defence of 'Bible Protestantism' and Protestant interests where jobs and housing were concerned. The UPA also campaigned against the allocation of public housing to Catholics. As Paisley came to dominate UPA, he received his first convictions for public order offences. In June 1959, Paisley addressed a UPA rally in the mainly-Protestant
Shankill district of Belfast. During the speech, he shouted out the addresses of some Catholic-owned homes and businesses in the area. These homes and businesses were then attacked by the crowd; windows were smashed, shops were looted and "
Taigs out" painted on the doors. During the
1964 UK general election campaign, an
Irish republican candidate displayed an
Irish tricolour from the window of his office in a republican area of Belfast. Paisley threatened that if the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not remove the tricolour he would lead a march to the office and take it down himself. The
Flags and Emblems Act 1954 banned the public display of any symbol, with the exception of the
Union Flag, that could cause a breach of the peace. In response, armed officers arrived at the building, smashed their way inside and seized the flag. This led to severe rioting between republicans and the RUC. Thirty people, including at least 18 officers, had to be hospitalised.
Opposition to the civil rights movement In 1964 a peaceful
civil rights campaign began in Northern Ireland. The civil rights movement sought to end discrimination against Catholics and those of Catholic background by the Protestant and unionist
government of Northern Ireland. Paisley instigated and led loyalist opposition to the civil rights movement over the next few years. He also led opposition against
Terence O'Neill,
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Although O'Neill was also unionist, Paisley and his followers saw him as being too 'soft' on the civil rights movement and opposed his policies of reform and reconciliation. At the time, Irish republicans were marking the 50th anniversary of the
Easter Rising. Although the IRA was inactive, loyalists such as Paisley warned that it was about to be revived and launch another campaign against Northern Ireland. At the same time, a loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) emerged in the
Shankill area of Belfast, led by
Gusty Spence. Many of its members were also members of the UCDC and UPV, including UCDC secretary and UPV leader Noel Doherty. Paisley forced the Stormont government to mobilise B-Specials for the entire month of April with the hope of outlawing public commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the
1916 Easter Rising. Paisley failed in this objective but did succeed in pressuring the government to ban trains from the Republic transporting people to Northern Ireland for the ceremonies. In May and June the UVF
petrol bombed a number of Catholic homes, schools and businesses. It also shot dead two Catholic civilians as they walked home. These are sometimes seen as the first deaths of
the Troubles. Following the killings, the UVF was outlawed and Paisley denied any knowledge of its activities. Paisley would later establish two other paramilitary groups:
Third Force in 1981 and
Ulster Resistance in 1986. On 6 June 1966 Paisley led a march to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church against what he claimed to be its "Romeward trend". The authorities allowed the marchers to go through the Catholic
Cromac Square neighbourhood carrying placards with anti-Catholic slogans. On 22 July 1966, Paisleyites clashed with the RUC outside
Crumlin Road Prison, where Paisley was being held. The next day, Protestant mobs several thousand strong "rampaged through the city, smashing windows and trying to damage businesses owned by Catholics". In response, the authorities banned all meetings and marches in Belfast for three months. On 30 November 1968, hours before a civil rights march in
Armagh, Paisley and
Ronald Bunting arrived in the town in a convoy of cars. Men armed with nail-studded cudgels emerged from the cars and took over the town centre to prevent the march. The RUC halted the civil rights march, sparking outrage from activists. On 25 March 1969, Paisley and Bunting were jailed for organising the illegal counter-demonstration. On 6 May, they were released during a general amnesty for people convicted of political offences. Many people believed these claims of IRA responsibility. The loyalists also hoped that the bombings would weaken confidence in Prime Minister Terence O'Neill. Unionist support for O'Neill waned, and on 28 April he resigned as Prime Minister. The civil rights campaign, and attacks on it by loyalists and police, culminated in the
August 1969 riots. The riots in
Divis Street were the worst in Belfast since the 1930s. Catholic Irish nationalists clashed with the police and with loyalists, who invaded Catholic neighbourhoods and burned scores of homes and businesses. This led to the
deployment of British troops and is seen by many as the beginning of the Troubles. Journalists Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie said of the rioting in Belfast: "Both communities were in the grip of a mounting paranoia about the other's intentions. Catholics were convinced that they were about to become victims of a Protestant
pogrom; Protestants that they were on the eve of an IRA insurrection". After the riots, Paisley is reported to have said: "Catholic homes caught fire because they were loaded with petrol bombs; Catholic churches were attacked and burned because they were arsenals and priests handed out sub-machine guns to parishioners". The British Army and nationalist MP
Gerry Fitt believed that loyalist extremists linked to Paisley were behind a number of bomb attacks in the spring of 1970 blamed on the newly emerged
Provisional IRA. Fitt also alleged that the explosions of 1969, the work of the UVF with which Paisley had "a close connection", were designed to cause "the downfall of the Northern Ireland Government and particularly of Captain O'Neill". These attacks included one during which Thomas McDowell, from Kilkeel, County Down, died from electrocution as he attempted to place a bomb at a power station at Ballyshannon, County Donegal. UVF member McDowell was also a member of the UPV and the Free Presbyterian Church. On 30 September 1971 Paisley and
Desmond Boal founded the
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
Relationship with the nationalist SDLP From the 1960s, one of his main rivals was civil rights leader and co-founder of the nationalist
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP),
John Hume. British Government papers, released in 2002, show that in 1971 Paisley attempted to reach a compromise with the
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The attempt was made via then British Cabinet Secretary,
Sir Burke Trend. The papers show that Paisley had indicated he could "reach an accommodation with leaders of the Catholic minority, which would provide the basis of a new government in Stormont." It appears that the move was rejected once it became clear to the SDLP that it would have created a very one-sided alliance. Speaking about the deal in 2002 Paisley said: Promoting the DUP's manifesto at a launch event ahead of the
1983 UK general election Paisley made clear that the core message of the party's campaign would be to "expose and oppose Provisional Sinn Fein and its fellow travellers, the SDLP." Responding to reporters, Paisley said: Speaking at the launch of the DUP's policy proposals for devolved government for the
briefly revived Northern Ireland Assembly in September 1984, Paisley echoed the document's position on power-sharing with the SDLP: In one interview during the referendum campaign following the signing of the 1998
Good Friday Agreement, he declared that he was 'opposed to power-sharing with nationalists because nationalists are only power-sharing to destroy Northern Ireland' clearly meaning the SDLP as well as Sinn Féin. Loyalists formed the
Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) to mobilise loyalist workers against the Agreement, while the loyalist paramilitary groups (
UDA,
UVF etc.) formed the
Ulster Army Council (UAC) to co-ordinate their response. Addressing an anti-Agreement rally in January 1974, Paisley declared:Mr
Faulkner says it's 'hands across the border' to Dublin. I say if they don't behave themselves in
the South, it will be
shots across the border! On 15 May 1974 the UWC called a general strike aimed at bringing down the Agreement and the new government. A co-ordinating committee was set up to help organise the strike. It included Paisley and the other UUUC leaders, the leaders of the UWC, and the heads of the loyalist paramilitary groups. Its chairman was
Glenn Barr, a high-ranking member of Ulster Vanguard and the UDA. In its first meeting, Barr arrived late and found Paisley sitting at the head of the table. Barr told him "you might be chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party but I'm chairman of the co-ordinating committee, so move over". Paisley moved from the head of the table but carried the chair away with him and the two argued over the chair itself, with Paisley eventually allowed to keep it as he claimed to need a chair with arms due to back pain. The strike lasted fourteen days and brought Northern Ireland to a standstill. Loyalist paramilitaries helped to enforce the strike by blocking roads and intimidating workers. On 17 May, the third day of the strike, loyalists
detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, in the Republic of Ireland. The bombs killed 33 civilians and injured 300, making it the deadliest attack of the Troubles, and the deadliest terrorist attack in the Republic's history. In an interview nine months before his death, Paisley said he was "shocked" by the bombings, but claimed that the Republic's government provoked the attack. The strike led to the downfall of the Agreement on 28 May.
Unionist Action Council strike In 1977 the
United Unionist Action Council (UUAC) was formed out of the UUUC. The council was chaired by
Joseph Burns and included Paisley,
Ernest Baird (leader of the
United Ulster Unionist Movement), members of the Ulster Workers' Council, and leaders of loyalist paramilitaries including the UDA,
Orange Volunteers and
Down Orange Welfare. The UUAC also established its own loyalist vigilante group called the
Ulster Service Corps (USC). The main aims of the strike were to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland under a system of simple majority (i.e. unionist) rule and to force the British Government to introduce tougher security measures against the IRA. However, unlike in 1974, many workers refused to join the strike and the security forces were better prepared. During a speech in the
House of Commons, Paisley claimed to have taken part in some of these patrols and encouraged his supporters to join the group. On 10 May, Protestant bus driver Harry Bradshaw was shot dead by loyalists for working during the strike, and UDR soldier John Geddis was killed when loyalists bombed a petrol station that had stayed open. On 17 July, Paisley interrupted the opening proceedings of the European Parliament to protest that the
Union Jack outside the building was flying upside down. On 18 July, Paisley tried to interrupt
Jack Lynch—then
Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) and
President of the European Council—as he was making a speech in the Parliament. Paisley was shouted down by other MEPs.
Third Force During 1981, Paisley attempted to create a Protestant loyalist volunteer
militia—called the (Ulster)
Third Force—which would work alongside the police and army to fight the IRA. At the time, Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher was holding talks with Taoiseach
Charles Haughey, and the
Irish republican hunger strike was underway. On the night of 6 February 1981 Paisley summoned journalists to a hillside in County Antrim, where he had gathered 500 men. The men were photographed in military formation, waving what purported to be
firearms certificates in the air. Paisley declared: "This is a small token of the men who are placed to devastate any attempt by Margaret Thatcher and Charles Haughey to destroy the Union". He added: "I will take full responsibility for anything these men do. We will stop at nothing." Paisley helped to organise further night-time rallies on 1 April, where large groups of men brandished more pieces of paper. They were held on hillsides near
Gortin,
Armagh and
Newry. At Gortin, the police were attacked and two police vehicles overturned. On 16 November, Paisley addressed a large Third Force rally in
Enniskillen, where hundreds of men marched in a show of strength. On 3 December Paisley claimed that the Third Force had 15,000–20,000 members.
James Prior,
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, replied that private armies would not be tolerated.
Campaign against the Anglo-Irish Agreement The
Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed by the British and Irish governments on 15 November 1985, following months of talks between the two governments. The Agreement confirmed that there would be no change in the status of Northern Ireland without
the consent of a majority of its citizens, and set out conditions for the creation of a power-sharing government for Northern Ireland. It also gave the Irish government an advisory role on political, legal and security matters in Northern Ireland. Led by Paisley and UUP leader James Molyneaux, unionists mounted a major protest campaign against the Agreement, dubbed "
Ulster Says No". Both unionist parties resigned their seats in the British House of Commons, suspended district council meetings, and supported a campaign of mass
civil disobedience. There were strikes and mass protest rallies. On 23 November 1985, more than 100,000 people attended a rally at Belfast City Hall. The rally was addressed by Paisley and Molyneaux. In his address, Paisley stated: Where do the terrorists operate from? From the Irish Republic! Where do the terrorists return to for sanctuary? To the Irish Republic! And yet Mrs Thatcher tells us that the Republic must have some say in our Province. We say 'Never! Never! Never! Never!' On 23 June 1986 Paisley and 21 other unionist politicians occupied the
Stormont Parliament Building in protest at the Agreement, while 200 supporters protested outside and clashed with police. During the campaign against the Agreement, loyalist militants attacked the homes of over 500 police officers, forcing 150 families to move. On 10 July Paisley and deputy DUP leader Peter Robinson led 4,000 loyalists in an early morning protest in which they 'took over' and 'occupied' the town of
Hillsborough in protest against the Agreement.
Hillsborough Castle is where the Agreement had been signed. Other recruitment rallies were held in towns across Northern Ireland and the movement was organised into nine 'battalions'. On 9 December 1986 Paisley was once again ejected from the
European Parliament for continually interrupting a speech by Thatcher.
Drumcree dispute Paisley was involved in the
Drumcree dispute during the late 1980s and 1990s. He supported the right of the
Orange Order, a Protestant unionist fraternal organisation, to march through the Catholic part of
Portadown. The Catholic residents sought to ban the yearly march from their area, seeing it as
sectarian, triumphalist and
supremacist. Paisley was a former member of the Orange Order and belonged to a similar Protestant brotherhood: the
Apprentice Boys. He also addressed the yearly gathering of the
Independent Orange Order. On 30 March 1986 a loyalist march was banned from the Catholic district. At midnight, 3,000 loyalists gathered in the town centre. Led by Paisley, they forced their way past police and marched through the Catholic district. Residents claimed that some of the marchers were carrying guns and that police did little to stop the loyalists attacking their homes. Afterwards, Paisley gathered a throng of Orangemen and tried to push through the police lines, but was arrested. Loyalists threw missiles at the police and tried to break through the blockade; police responded with
plastic bullets. Instead, Paisley travelled to Cameroon with the documentary filmmaker
Jon Ronson, filming an episode of the television series
Witness called "Dr Paisley, I Presume". Paisley and his party opposed the Agreement in the referendum that followed its signing, which saw it approved by over 70% of the voters in Northern Ireland and by over 90% of voters in the Republic of Ireland. Although Paisley often stressed his loyalty to the
Crown, he accused
Queen Elizabeth II of being
Tony Blair's "parrot" when she voiced approval of the Agreement. The DUP fought the resulting election to the
Northern Ireland Assembly, to which Paisley was elected while keeping his seats in the Westminster and European parliaments. The DUP took two seats in the multi-party power-sharing executive (Paisley, like the leaders of the nationalist
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Féin chose not to become a minister) but those DUP members serving as ministers (
Peter Robinson and
Nigel Dodds) refused to attend meetings of the Executive Committee (cabinet) in protest at Sinn Féin's participation. Paisley assumed the chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly created by the Belfast Agreement. The Minister for Agriculture, the SDLP's
Bríd Rodgers, remarked that she and Paisley had a "workmanlike" relationship.
2000s: compromise and power and
Martin McGuinness in December 2007 ,
Alex Salmond, in 2008 At the age of 78 Paisley retired from his European Parliament seat at the
2004 elections and was succeeded by
Jim Allister. In September 2004 he agreed to meet Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern, in his political capacity as leader of the DUP. At an early meeting with Ahern at the Irish embassy in London, he requested breakfast and asked for boiled eggs; when Ahern asked him why he had wanted boiled eggs, he quipped "it would be hard for you to poison them". Following rumours and a marked change in his appearance, it was confirmed in July 2004 that Paisley had been undergoing tests for an undisclosed illness, and in 2005 Ian Paisley Jr confirmed that his father had been gravely ill. Paisley himself later said that he had "walked in death's shadow." Paisley again retained his
North Antrim seat at the
2005 UK general election. In 2005 he was made a
Privy Counsellor, an appointment traditionally bestowed upon leaders of political parties in the British Parliament. In the October 2006
St Andrews Agreement, Paisley and the DUP agreed to new elections, and support for a new executive including Sinn Féin subject to Sinn Féin acceptance of the
Police Service of Northern Ireland, the successor to the
Royal Ulster Constabulary. This reversed half a century of opposition to Sinn Féin, such as his comments four months previously on
12 July in
Portrush, following Orange Order parades, when he said, "[Sinn Fein] are not fit to be in partnership with decent people. They are not fit to be in the government of Northern Ireland and it will be over our dead bodies if they ever get there." Sinn Féin subsequently endorsed the PSNI, and in the
subsequent election Paisley and the DUP received an increased share of the vote and increased their assembly seats from 30 to 36. On Monday 26 March 2007, the date of the British Government deadline for devolution or dissolution, Paisley led a DUP delegation to a meeting with a Sinn Féin delegation led by
Gerry Adams, which agreed on a DUP proposal that the executive would be established on 8 May. On 8 May 2007 power was devolved, the Assembly met, and Paisley and Sinn Féin's
Martin McGuinness were elected
First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. Speaking at Stormont to an invited international audience he said, "Today at long last we are starting upon the road—I emphasise starting—which I believe will take us to lasting peace in our province." Paisley and McGuinness subsequently established a good working relationship and were dubbed the "Chuckle Brothers" by the Northern Irish media. In September 2007, he confirmed that he would contest North Antrim at the
2010 general election as well as serving the full four years as First Minister, stating "I might as well make hay while the sun shines." In 2007 Paisley was named as "Opposition Parliamentarian of the Year" in
The House Magazine Parliamentary Awards and by
The Spectator as "Marathon Man of the Year." Following his January 2008 retirement as leader of the Free Presbyterian Church and pressure from party insiders, on 4 March 2008, Paisley announced that he would stand down as DUP leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland in May 2008. and succeeded Paisley as first minister at a special sitting of the assembly on 5 June 2008. On 2 March 2010 it was announced that Paisley would step down as a Member of Parliament at that year's general election. His son Ian Paisley Jr. was elected to succeed him in the seat at the general election on 6 May 2010. On 18 June 2010 Paisley was created a
life peer as
Baron Bannside,
of North Antrim in the County of Antrim, and he was introduced in the
House of Lords on 5 July 2010.
Bannside was the
Northern Ireland Parliament constituency Paisley had won in 1970; he opted not to take a title based on his surname as his wife was already in the House as
Baroness Paisley of St George's and he said that it would have implied she was "sitting not in her own right but as my wife". ==Final years and death (2010–14)==