The United Party (sometimes referred to as the BVI United Party) (or UP) is a no
defunct

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

of the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

. It was originally formed by

Conrad Maduro Conrad Antonio Maduro is a British Virgin Islander politician and longtime leader of the United Party. Remarkably, Conrad Maduro has led his party to victory at three different general elections, but has never been appointed Chief Minister. * ...

, H. Lavity Stoutt, Terrance B. Lettsome and

Ivan Dawson Ivan Dawson, CBE was a British Virgin Islands politician. Subsequent to the restoration of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands The House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands, until 2007 known as the Legislative Counc ...

during the first session of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands under the new constitution in 1967 subsequent to the general election on 14 April 1967. Although Conrad Maduro was the President of the party, he did not win his seat at the 1967 general election, and so it was agreed that Lavity Stoutt would be appointed Chief Minister. Leading up to the 1971 general election Lavity Stoutt and Terrance Lettsome left the party to form the

Virgin Islands Party The Virgin Islands Party (VIP) is a political party in the British Virgin Islands. It is presently led by Acting Premier Natalio Wheatley. It is the oldest active political party in the British Virgin Islands, and it has won more general elect ...

, presumably for the ostensible reason of Stoutt seeking to remain as Chief Minister if Maduro should win his seat at the next election. Although Maduro did win his seat, the election was won by the rival

VI Democratic Party The VI Democratic Party (VIDP or DP) is a nodefunctpolitical party of the British Virgin Islands. It was originally formed by Dr Q. William Osborne during the first session of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands under the ne ...

. The United Party held power three times in the Territory. Firstly, from its formation in 1967 until 1971. In 1975 it regained power as part of a coalition with

Willard Wheatley Willard Wheatley MBE (16 July 1915 – 22 January 1997) was a British Virgin Islands educator and politician who served two consecutive terms as the Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1971 to 1979. He was the second ever Chief Mi ...

until 1979. It regained power for the final time in November 1983 as part of a coalition with

Cyril Romney Cyril Brandtford Romney (1 March 1931 – 19 July 2007) was a British Virgin Islander politician who served as Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1983 to 1986. He also served as a member of the Legislative Council of the British V ...

. However, when Cyril Romney stepped down as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

and left the party, the party lost its overall majority and was replaced by the

, and never again emerged subsequently as a major political force. The last election in which the United Party won a seat was the 1995 general election when Conrad Maduro and Andre Penn were the only candidates to win a seat. Although various candidates ran under the United Party banner in the 1999 general election, none were elected. In the 2003 general election only Conrad Maduro ran for the party (unsuccessfully). Maduro ran again in the 2005 by-election following the death of Paul Wattley (also unsuccessfully), and thereafter the United Party had ceased to function as a political party.

Possible revival

In June 2014

announced his desire to return the United Party to political prominence, and confirmed that if selected as a candidate he would run in the next general election. It is unclear who the prospective candidates might be, but Maduro referred to the people expressing an interest as being "young people". In the end the party did not put any candidates forward at the 2015 election. Another potential revival was also suggested in July 2018.

Electoral results

Footnotes

Political parties in the British Virgin Islands Political parties established in 1963 1963 establishments in the British Virgin Islands {{caribbean-party-stub