James Kilfedder

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Sir James Alexander Kilfedder (16 July 1928 – 20 March 1995) was a Northern Ireland unionist politician.

James Kilfedder, born in Kinlouth, County Leitrim to a family from Enniskillen, was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen and Trinity College, Dublin.[1] He became a barrister, called to the Irish Bar at King's Inns, Dublin, in 1952 and the English Bar at Gray's Inn in 1958. He practised in London.

At the 1964 general election, Kilfedder was elected as Member of Parliament for West Belfast, as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member. He lost his seat at the 1966 election to Gerry Fitt. He was elected again in the 1970 general election for North Down, and held the seat until his death in 1995.

Kilfedder was elected for North Down in the 1973 Assembly election, signing Brian Faulkner's pledge to support the White Paper which eventually established the Sunningdale Agreement but becoming an anti-White Paper Unionist [2] after the election. In 1975 he stood for the same constituency in the Constitutional Convention election, polling over three quotas as a UUP member of the United Ulster Unionist Coalition (UUUC) although he refused to sign the UUUC's pledge of conduct.

He left the UUP in 1977 [3] in opposition to the party's new policy of integration, preferring to advocate the restoration of the Stormont Administration. For a time he sat as an Independent Ulster Unionist. He contested the 1979 European Parliament Election under that label, eventually finishing as runner-up with over half a quota having overtaken the UUP leader Harry West on transfers. [4]

In 1980 he formed the Ulster Popular Unionist Party (UPUP) and was re-elected under that label in all subsequent elections. He again topped the poll in the 1982 Assembly election and was elected as Speaker of the Assembly [5] (to 1986). He took the Conservative whip at Westminster. [6] Whilst Speaker he was paid more than the Prime Minister.[7]

On 20 March 1995, while traveling by train in London, Sir James died of a heart attack. He died unmarried, survived by two sisters. Sir James was described as "a phenomenon or perhaps a left-over from a remote era of Northern Irish politics when Ulster was represented by such figures as Lord Robert Grosvenor, Major Robin Chichester-Clark, Stratton Mills, and Rafton Pounder."[8]

The UPUP did not outlive him, and the by-election for his Commons seat was won by Robert McCartney.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Obituary; the Independent
  2. ^ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cnd.htm
  3. ^ The 1995 North Down by-election
  4. ^ The 1979 European Election
  5. ^ Robert Waller, Almanac of British Politics, 3rd ed
  6. ^ Waller and Criddle, Almanac of British Politics, 6th ed
  7. ^ Obituary; the Independent
  8. ^ Obituary; the Independent
Political offices
Preceded by
Patricia McLaughlin		 Member of Parliament for Belfast West
1964–1966		 Succeeded by
Gerry Fitt
Preceded by
George Currie		 Member of Parliament for North Down
1970–1995		 Succeeded by
Robert McCartney