Leader of the Opposition (Northern Ireland)

Northern Ireland 1921–72
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The Leader of the Opposition in Northern Ireland was theoretically the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland which was not the government. The position was eliminated in 1972 when the Stormont Parliament was abolished and replaced by direct rule from London.

Through the existence of the Stormont Parliament, members of the Irish Nationalist opposition often practiced a policy of abstentionism where they would run for seats in the parliament but refuse to take them if elected in order not to give legitimacy to British rule or the partition of the island and refused to accept recognition as the Official Opposition until 1965 despite the fact that they were the second party in the House of Commons in terms of seats won from 1925 until 1972 and had been tied for second with Sinn Féin (which was also abstentionist) in the first Northern Ireland House of Commons from 1921 to 1925.

Though the Nationalist Party was consistently the second largest party in the House of Commons its members refused to take their seats in the legislature until 1924, then resumed the abstentionist policy in the 1930s to protest the abolition of proportional representation. From 1937, T. J. Campbell and Richard Byrne were the only Nationalist MPs to take their seats until Byrne's death in 1942 and Campbell's resignation in 1945. It was not until 1965 that the Nationalist Party agreed to form the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. Eddie McAteer served as Leader of the Opposition from 1965 until he lost his seat in the 1969 election. Roderick O'Connor succeeded McAteer as Nationalist Party leader but the party again withdrew from its role as Official Opposition.

Leaders of the Opposition

This is a list of people who served as the de facto Leaders of the Opposition of Northern Ireland, being leaders of the largest party in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland which was not the government.

No.	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Portrait	Term of office		Election	Parliament	Party		Second Major Opposition Leader
1.	Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) MP for Down		1921	1925	1921	1st		Sinn Féin		Joseph Devlin (Nationalist Party)
2.	Joseph Devlin (1871–1934) MP for Belfast West and Belfast Central		1925	1934	1925	2nd		Nationalist Party		Sam Kyle (Labour Party)
					1929	3rd				Jack Beattie (Labour Party)
					1933	4th				Harry Midgley (Labour Party)
3.	Thomas Joseph Campbell (1871–1946) MP for Belfast Central		1934	1945	–
					1938	5th				Paddy Agnew (1938–42) Jack Beattie (1942–43) Paddy Agnew (1943–45) (Labour Party)
					1945	6th				Hugh Downey (Labour Party)
4.	James McSparran (1892–1970) MP for Mourne		1945	1958	–
					1949	7th				None (Labour Party)
					1953	8th
5.	Joseph Francis Stewart (1889–1964) MP for East Tyrone		1958	1964	1958	9th				Tom Boyd (Labour Party)
					1962	10th
6.	Eddie McAteer (1914–1986) MP for Foyle		1964	1969	–
					1965	11th
7.	Roderick O'Connor (1910–2000) MP for West Tyrone		1969	1972	1969	12th				Vivian Simpson (Labour Party)

See also

• Parliament of Northern Ireland

State and Government in Northern Ireland (1922–1972) Executive Monarch Governor Prime Minister Executive Committee Privy Council Royal Assent Legislative Stormont Parliament consisting of: House of Commons Senate Monarch represented by the Governor

Elections and referendums in Northern Ireland Westminister elections 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 Next By-elections General elections 1921 1925 1929 1933 1938 1945 1949 1953 1958 1962 1965 1969 Ad-hoc elections 1973 1975 1982 1996 Assembly elections 1998 2003 2007 2011 Next European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 Local elections 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 2014 Referendums 1973 1975 1998 2011 See also: Elections in the Kingdom of Ireland Elections in Ireland as part of the UK Elections in the Republic of Ireland