Clifford Forsythe (24 August 1929 – 27 April 2000) was an
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
(UUP) politician who served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
South Antrim from 1983 until his death in 2000.
Early life
He was a footballer with
Derry City and
Linfield Football Clubs. He won several footballing medals, and was described as a 'fine, speedy winger'.
Career
He had previously been Mayor of
Newtownabbey
Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement in North Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of severa ...
Borough Council, and was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1982 to 1986. He also once served as the President of the Northern Ireland Institute of Plumbing.
Forsythe was the constituency election agent for Ulster Unionist leader
James Molyneaux
James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, KBE, PC (27 August 1920 – 9 March 2015) was a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1979 to 1995, and as the Member of Parliament ...
,
and later won the same seat, albeit with a reduced majority, in 1983.
In his paper ''Quangopus Government'' published by the Ulster Unionist Party in June 1992, Forsythe – as the then UUP Spokesman on Local Government – argued for devolution of responsibility to locally elected representatives.
In 1996, Forsythe survived an attempt to deselect him as an MP.
Political views
Like Molyneaux, Forsythe opposed the
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
and supported proposals for a Northern Ireland-wide administrative assembly/regional council (with powers broadly analogous to the
National Assembly for Wales
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...
) to administer legislation and public services that were, at that time, administered by
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...
Ministers, civil servants and quangos.
On more than one occasion, Forsythe claimed that his experience – both in the 1982–86 Northern Ireland Assembly and as a Past Vice-Chairman of the Ulster
Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...
– led him to conclude that the unimplemented 1979 Conservative General Election Manifesto commitment to administrative devolution in Northern Ireland offered the way forward for Northern Ireland.
He was an active member of the House of Commons' Social Security Select Committee from 1991–1997, and the Environment, Transport and the Regions Select Committee from 1997 until his death in 2000.
Shortly before his death, Forsythe criticised the Government for its failure to tackle social security fraud by paramilitary groups.
He argued that air travel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland should be exempt from
air passenger duty
Air Passenger Duty (APD) is an excise Duty (tax), duty which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom or Isle of Man airport on an aircraft that has an authorised take-off weight of more than 5.7 tonnes or more than ...
, on the basis that the tax unfairly disadvantaged Northern Ireland compared with the rest of the United Kingdom given the limited alternative means of travelling between Belfast and London.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsythe, Clifford
1929 births
2000 deaths
Linfield F.C. players
Derry City F.C. players
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (since 1922)
Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986
Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Mayors of Newtownabbey
Members of Newtownabbey Borough Council
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
Association footballers not categorized by position
Association footballers from Northern Ireland