Robert Thomas William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (born 6 August 1948) is a retired Free Presbyterian minister from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. A former

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 ...

(DUP) politician, he represented South Antrim and Mid Ulster as their

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), representing Mid Ulster from 1983 to 1997; then South Antrim between 2000 to 2001, and then again from 2005 to 2015. McCrea was also 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 Mid Ulster from 1998 to 2007, before moving to represent South Antrim in the Assembly from 2007 to 2010.

Early life and education

McCrea was the youngest of five children born to Robert Thomas (a farmer in Stewartstown,

) and Sarah Jayne in August 1948. He was educated in

Magherafelt Magherafelt (, �mˠaxəɾʲəˈfʲiːlt̪ˠə is a small town and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,805 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social, econo ...

and spent a short time working in Social Security in the

Civil Service of Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS; ga, Státseirbhís Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Cïvil Sarvice'') is the permanent bureaucracy of employees that supports the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved governmen ...

before beginning training as a

Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster :''Distinct from Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)'' The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster ( ga, Eaglais Phreispitéireach Saor Uladh) is a Calvinist denomination founded by Ian Paisley in 1951. Doctr ...

minister. He undertook this training at Ravenhill Theological Hall, on the

Ravenhill Road Ravenhill or Raven Hill may refer to: * Ravenhill, Belfast, an area of Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK ** Ravenhill Stadium, a rugby stadium in Belfast * Ravenhill, Swansea, an area of Swansea, Wales, UK * Ravenhill (mansion), the Philadelphia mans ...

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 ...

. McCrea received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Mariette Bible College,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States. (''This institution is not certified by the Department of Higher Education or the State of Ohio.'')

Career

McCrea was a

(DUP) member of

Magherafelt District Council Magherafelt District Council was a district council in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It was merged with Cookstown District Council and Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in ...

from its creation in 1973 until he stood down to concentrate on Westminster duties in 2010, and topped the poll in every local government election he contested from 1973–2005. He ran unsuccessfully for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 1982 Belfast South by-election. He was

for Mid Ulster from 1983 but lost this seat to

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 ...

chief negotiator and deputy First Minister

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...

at the 1997 election. He took South Antrim at a

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 ...

in 2000 caused by the death of

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 ...

MP,

Clifford Forsythe Clifford Forsythe (24 August 1929 – 27 April 2000) was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency), South Antrim from ...

, but failed to retain this seat at the 2001 election. In the 2005 election he regained the seat and he held it at the 2010 election. He was subsequently defeated by the Ulster Unionist Party in 2015. In 1996, he 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 ...

for Mid-Ulster. From

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

to 2007 he was a member of 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 ...

for Mid Ulster. He was therefore a political representative for two separate constituencies (Mid Ulster and South Antrim) from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2007. At the 2007 election, he was elected as an Assembly Member for South Antrim. He resigned from the Assembly in 2010, following his return to Westminster at the general election of that year. He is also the minister of Magherafelt Free Presbyterian Church and has made numerous gospel albums. McCrea was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 19 June 2018, taking the title Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown, of

in the County of Londonderry and of

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Maghe ...

in the

County of Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retains ...

Controversy and paramilitary associations

McCrea was convicted in 1971 of riotous behaviour in

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the B ...

and sentenced to six months imprisonment. In 1972, McCrea issued a press release, saying, "We call on all Loyalists to give their continued support to the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...

as it seeks to ensure the safety of all law-abiding citizens against the bombs and bullets of the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

. As the Catholic population have given their support to the IRA throughout this campaign of terror so must Loyalists grant unswerving support to those engaged in the cause of truth." In September that year McCrea spoke at a rally in the Shankill Road area of Belfast protesting the conduct of the British Army's Parachute Regiment stationed locally, telling the crowd: "We never asked for the Army to come in. The loyalist people of Northern Ireland could have finished it themselves with the forces in this community." Uniformed UDA members checked cars entering the Glencairn estate before the protest and a UDA

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

patrolled in the vicinity. In 1975 he led a prayer service at the funerals of paramilitary members

Wesley Somerville William Wesley Somerville ( – 31 July 1975) was an Ulster loyalist militant, who held the rank of lieutenant in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's (UVF) Mid-Ulster Brigade during the period of conflict known as "the Troubles". With claims t ...

and

Harris Boyle Harris Boyle (1953 – 31 July 1975) was an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974 Dublin a ...

. The two terrorists were part of the

Glenanne gang The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and Irish nationalists in the 1970s, during the Troubles.

which carried out the

Miami Showband killings The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband massacre) was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. ...

and were accidentally blown up when the bomb they were planting in the band's minibus went off prematurely, killing them instantly. McCrea also conducted the funeral service for Benjamin Redfern, a UDA member who died while trying to escape the

Maze Prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...

in a bin lorry in August 1984. Redfern was serving a life sentence for the murder of two Catholics. At the DUP annual conference of April 1986, McCrea interrupted councillor Ethel Smyth when she said she regretted the death of Sean Downes, a 24-year-old Catholic civilian who had been killed by a plastic bullet fired by the RUC during an anti-internment march in

Andersontown Andersontown is a populated place on Maryland's Eastern Shore in Caroline County, Maryland, United States. It is situated near the Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to i ...

in August 1984. McCrea shouted, "No. No. I’ll not condemn the death of John Downes ic No Fenian. Never. No". In Northern Ireland and Scotland, the word ''Fenian'' is used as a slur for Roman Catholics. McCrea was the target of a

parcel bomb A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the mail, postal service, and designed ...

to his home on 9 August 1988, when a package sent by the

Irish People's Liberation Organisation The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermat ...

was disarmed. McCrea had become suspicious when he noticed the package had a

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

postmark. In September 1991, following the murder of Sinn Féin councillor Bernard O'Hagan by the UDA (who claimed the shooting under its outlawed "Ulster Freedom Fighters"

cover name A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

) in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, McCrea said "He who lives by the sword often dies by the sword" and " 'Haganwithout apology stood for the policy of the Armalite in one hand and the ballot box in the other". McCrea was criticised when he appeared on a platform at a

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

rally in support of the senior

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a uni ...

paramilitary Billy Wright, who had been threatened by the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaig ...

(UVF) leadership, in September 1996. Wright was the founder and leader of the

Loyalist Volunteer Force The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. Most of ...

(which had broken away from the UVF), and had been threatened after he broke the UVF ceasefire by ordering the death of Catholic civilian Michael McGoldrick. In 2000, McCrea was the subject of an early day motion by two MPs, Harry Barnes and Sir

Peter Bottomley Sir Peter James Bottomley (born 30 July 1944) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1975 when elected for Woolwich West, serving until it was abolished before the 1983 general election. ...

. The motion referenced a claim that McCrea had visited Wright's successor as LVF leader in order to persuade the LVF not to decommission any of its weapons. This claim has yet to be substantiated.

Call for British airstrikes against Irish towns

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 ...

memo released under the

thirty-year rule The "thirty-year rule" is the informal name given to laws in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the Commonwealth of Australia that provide that certain government documents will be released publicly thirty years after they were creat ...

in December 2014 revealed that McCrea had called for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

to carry out "strikes against

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

Crossmaglen Crossmaglen (, ) is a village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,610 in the 2011 Census and is the largest village in South Armagh. The village centre is the site of a large Police Service of Northern Irel ...

and

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and Omagh. ...

" at the DUP's annual conference in April 1986.

Alternative medicine

McCrea is a supporter of

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

, having signed several

early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion, expressed as a single sentence, Table (parliamentary procedure), tabled by Member of Parliament, members of Parliament that formally ...

s in support of its continued funding on the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, sponsored by

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP David Tredinnick.

References

External links

*
Maiden Speech : House of Commons – 25 October 2000 (South Antrim 1st term)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCrea, William 1948 births Living people British gospel singers Democratic Unionist Party life peers Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Democratic Unionist Party MPs Democratic Unionist Party councillors Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster ministers Members of Magherafelt District Council Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (since 1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Mid Ulster Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 People educated at Cookstown High School UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Life peers created by Elizabeth II