Typical Unionists? The Politicians and their People, Past and Present

Abstract

The actions and personas of Ulster unionist politicians have been the key factor in forming perceptions of Northern Ireland’s Protestants. If nationalist Ireland, the largely disinterested Great British public or, by some accident, the outside world ever hear an Ulster Protestant perspective articulated it will likely be from the lips of a unionist politician. For generations unionist representatives have advocated their cause through adaptations of familiar language and predictable political strategies. This familiarity has created easily identifiable archetypal unionist politicians. The leading members of this cast list are such stock unionist characters as: the dour rejectionist; the emotional fatalist; the triumphalist bigot; the big house paternalist; the deposed leader; the marginal liberal; and the unelectable loyalist. The origins of these varied ‘typical unionists’, and the contradictions evident between them, have much to tell us about the complexities of the broader Ulster Protestant experience.