Hugh Ross (Northern Ireland Politician)

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Hugh Ross (born c. 1944) is a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister and member of the

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...

, who was previously the leader of the now defunct

Ulster Independence Movement The Ulster Independence Movement was an Ulster nationalist political party founded (as the Ulster Independence Committee) on 17 November 1988. The group emerged from the Ulster Clubs, after a series of 15 public meetings across Northern Ireland. ...

(UIM).

UIM leadership

Ross began his political involvement with the Ulster Clubs which emerged in the 1980s to galvanise opposition to 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 ...

and appeared on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

's local news programme in August 1986 to launch an attack on cross-border co-operation. Eventually the UIM developed out of this group and Ross became leader of the main avowedly Ulster nationalist organisation in Northern Ireland's history. Ross enjoyed relatively high vote shares as a candidate at both the Upper Bann

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

of 1990 and the 1994 European elections. He headed the list for the UIM at the 1996 elections for 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 ...

(a precursor to 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 ...

) although he failed to get elected and has since largely left politics, emerging from time to time to write articles for the

Ulster Third Way The Ulster Third Way was the Northern Ireland branch of the Third Way and was organised by David Kerr, who had previously campaigned as an 'independent Unionist' (chairing the small North Belfast Independent Unionist Association) as well as for ...

journal, ''Ulster Nation''. As a member of the Orange Order, Rev Ross was also involved in the difficulties over the march to

Drumcree Church Drumcree Parish Church, officially The Church of the Ascension, is the Church of Ireland parish church of Drumcree in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits on a hill in the townland of Drumcree, outside Portadown. It is a site of histori ...

and addressed rallies of Order supporters in the area.

''The Committee'' allegations

Ross' retirement from the political scene was in part caused by accusations in a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

documentary that he was part of a committee which oversaw collusion between the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

and

loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

. The programme and resulting book claimed that the

Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee The Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee (ULCCC) was set up in 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the Ulster Workers Council Strike, to facilitate meetings and policy coordination between the Ulster Workers Council, ...

(ULCCC), an umbrella group for

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

paramilitary organisations that had been refounded in 1991 actually acted as a co-ordination body between a number of leading community figures including Ross,

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank ( ga, Banc Uladh) is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank, trading as Ulster Bank (registere ...

chief Billy Abernethy with elements of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

and loyalist gunmen such as Billy Wright with the aim of identifying targets. One of the leading sources for the book was Jim Sands, a UIM member who served as assistant to Ross. Sands claimed that Ross was a leading member of the ULCCC and thus had an input in deciding the targets of loyalist terror groups. Sands further claimed that Ross believed in a militantly violent path to Ulster nationalism and claimed in a 1991 interview that Ross aimed to form a symbiotic relationship between the UIM and

Ulster Resistance Ulster Resistance (UR), or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM), is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism#Paramilitary and vigilante groups, paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Irela ...

in the style of

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 ...

and the

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 ...

. Other UIM activists were implicated in the allegations, such as

Nelson McCausland Nelson McCausland (born 15 August 1951) is a former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland, who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Belfast from 2003 until he lost his seat in 2017. and ...

, whilst Abernethy was a supporter having signed the nomination papers for Ross's candidacy in Upper Bann. In response to the initial broadcast Ross appeared on the Channel 4 programme ''

Right to Reply ''Right to Reply'' (sometimes called ''R2R'') is a British television series shown on Channel 4 from 1982 until 2001, which allowed viewers to voice their complaints or concerns about TV programmes. It featured reports, usually presented by a v ...

''. During the show Ross argued that he had no links to paramilitaries or the 'Inner Force' of the RUC and added that clips shown of him speaking had been taken out of context and amounted to only a few minutes from an interview that lasted a few hours. He further added that he had only agreed to work with the Committee's makers as he felt it was an opportunity to promote his largely unknown political party. Ross was accompanied to the studio by

David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He wa ...

and it was later alleged that the two had a close relationship, founded on their mutual interest in Ulster nationalism (it being claimed that after his spell in the

Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP), informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978. Led by William Craig, the party emerged from a split in the Ulster Unio ...

Trimble had been involved in authoring the pro-independence booklet ''Beyond the Religious Divide'', produced by the

New Ulster Political Research Group New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz Albums and EPs * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...

in 1977). Following the ''Right to Reply'' appearance Ross sent a letter to the producers of the Committee threatening them with a

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

suit, although ultimately nothing came of this. Sands would later claim that his evidence regarding UIM involvement in any conspiracy had been a hoax. Despite this Ross was photographed in July 1995 at what was purported to be ULCCC meeting in attendance with Abernethy and Alex Kerr, an associate of Billy Wright.McPhilemy, p. 274 Ultimately the allegations remained unproven, but the incident damaged Ross's reputation and saw membership of the UIM dwindle. The group disappeared after the 1996

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 ...

elections and Ross took no further part in politics.

Bibliography

*Sean McPhilemy, ''The Committee – Political Assassination in Northern Ireland'',

Niwot, Colorado Niwot is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Boulder, Colorado Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Niwot post offi ...

: Roberts Rinehart, 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Hugh 1944 births Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland Politicians from Northern Ireland Presbyterian ministers from Northern Ireland Ulster Independence Movement politicians 20th-century Christian clergy Living people