Cedric Wilson (born 6 June 1948) is a Northern Irish Unionist

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...

(MLA) for Strangford from 1998 to 2003. Elected as a

UK Unionist Party The UK Unionist Party (UKUP) was a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland from 1995 to 2008 that opposed the Good Friday Agreement. It was nominally formed by Robert McCartney, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party, to contest the ...

(UKUP) candidate to the Assembly, Wilson left the party the following year, forming his own party, the

Northern Ireland Unionist Party The Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP) was a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed in January 1999 as a splinter party from the UK Unionist Party (UKUP). This split was caused by disagreement between the five UKU ...

(NIUP).

Career

Born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Wilson became the director of a private

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, he was elected to

Castlereagh Borough Council Castlereagh may refer to: People * Marquess of Londonderry, subsidiary title Viscount Castlereagh, used as courtesy title for the Marquess's eldest son; in particular ** Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769–1822), later 2nd Marquess of Lo ...

for the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

, a post he held until 1989. During this time, he became known for his role in campaigning against the

Anglo-Irish Agreement The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Irela ...

. At the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election, Wilson stood unsuccessfully in Belfast South. In 1996, he joined the

(UKUP), and was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

under the top-up system in 1996. When the Forum was replaced by the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

, Wilson won a seat in Strangford outright, initially placing third out of twenty-two candidates. In 1999, Wilson and three of the four other UKUP Assembly members left the party to form the

(NIUP). They argued that they should not quit their Assembly seats should

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

take up its seats in the without prior

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

decommissioning of weapons. Wilson became the party leader, and in the 2001 UK general election, he contested the Strangford parliamentary seat, but came bottom of the poll, with only 1.9% of the vote. This poor showing was reflected in the 2003 Assembly election, when Wilson initially placed only tenth out of thirteen candidates, and all the NIUP members lost their seats. Wilson remained leader of the NIUP, but the party is currently inactive. Wilson stood as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate in the Strangford constituency at the 2007 Assembly election where he polled 305 votes (0.8%), thus finishing last out of the fifteen candidates.

References

The Northern Ireland Assembly: Mr Cedric Wilson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Cedric 1948 births Living people Members of Castlereagh Borough Council Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Democratic Unionist Party politicians UK Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland Unionist Party MLAs