Hugh Smyth

Hugh Smyth, OBE (1941 – 12 May 2014) was a Northern Irish politician who was leader of the Progressive Unionist Party. He was a former Lord Mayor of Belfast as well as the longest serving member of Belfast City Council, having represented the Upper Shankill Road area since 1973. Smyth was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year's Honours list.

Emergence in politics

Born in the Woodvale Road district of the Shankill Road area of Belfast, Smyth was one of nine children and was educated locally and worked as a metal bonder in the Short Brothers factory before entering full-time politics.

Smyth first came to attention in the early 1970s when he served as a public spokesman for the Ulster Volunteer Force although he was not an active member of the organisation. His inspiration for politics was the struggle his father endured whilst working to support his family. Deeply opposed to what he described as 'Big House Unionism', he stated that at that time Belfast City Council was composed mostly of upper class unionists who sought to obstruct working class council members by holding council meetings during the daytime, when working class councillors were required to be at work."PUP man Hugh Smyth who scorned Big House unionism and rose to rank of Lord Mayor"
, belfasttelegraph.co.uk; accessed 4 March 2015.

He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 under the label of Independent Unionist, a well-established term used in Northern Irish politics for unionists outside the major unionist parties. While serving in the Assembly, Smyth was claimed by the UVF as a member of the Ulster Loyalist Front, a political arm that the group had established in October 1973. Although it revealed some policies, including increased use of referendums, worker cooperative initiatives, improvements in social care, and alterations to the educational and social housing systems, the group disappeared almost immediately and Smyth retained his independent designation. He also joined its successor group, the Volunteer Political Party, when it was formed, but this group also made no impact and dissolved soon afterwards. Smyth was also elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975, once again as an Independent Unionist. Smyth remained close to the UVF. On 2 October 1975, he accompanied a UVF delegation to a meeting with leading figures from the Northern Ireland Office.

Progressive unionist

Smyth and some like-minded followers came together in 1978 under the name Independent Unionist Group, a more formalised alliance of working-class independent unionists based in Belfast of which Smyth was leader. The group was close to the UVF. This group would change its name to the Progressive Unionist Party the following year as a response to the growing Ulster nationalism within the Ulster Defence Association, with Smyth and his fellow founders fearing that their description as "independent Unionists" might lead to them being associated with independence to which they were opposed. Smyth was close to leading UVF member Gusty Spence