[A-List] UK state: Northern Ireland & punk Thatcherism

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

This guy is so right wing that even the Conservative Party leadership
won't (be seen to) tolerate him. So it's very fitting that he should end
up retreating to Ian Paisley's outfit where he's probably moderate by
comparison. It's also indicative of the decline of unionism, that the
former Conservative Party affiliate, the Ulster Unionist party, was
overlooked by Hunter, who belongs very much to the shrivelling empire
loyalist segment of British politics.


Tory MP quits to fight Ulster seat for DUP
By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent
The Independent, 03 October 2002

A right-wing Conservative backbencher announced yesterday that he was
resigning to join the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party as a
candidate for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Andrew Hunter, the Tory MP for Basingstoke, will sit as an independent
in the Commons but will stand down from Westminster at the next
election. In a letter to party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, he said: "As
you know, I have a long-standing and deep interest in the affairs of
Northern Ireland. It has been suggested that I stand for the Northern
Ireland Assembly in the elections next May as a DUP candidate."

Mr Hunter, who has been MP for Basingstoke since 1983, said he was
leaving because the Conservative Party constitution barred him from
standing as a DUP candidate for the Stormont Assembly. He told Mr Duncan
Smith: "I wish to assure you that in practice this will make little
difference. I remain one of your most loyal supporters and I shall
continue to support you in the House of Commons."

His decision was also influenced by his wife Jan's cancer. The couple
plan to return to Northern Ireland and repurchase part of their old
family farm in Co Londonderry.

Mr Hunter has a long-held interest in Northern Ireland affairs; he
served on the House of Commons' Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
between 1994 and 2001.

A former Territorial Army major who taught English and classics at
Harrow school, Mr Hunter is a controversial figure on the right of the
Conservative Party. He was forced to stand down from the board of the
magazine Right Now earlier this year over inflammatory articles about
race.

Mr Hunter is also a former member of the Monday Club, but left after Mr
Duncan Smith suspended the organisation from the Tory party a year ago.

Mr Duncan Smith said: "I'm very sorry that Andrew has decided to retire
from Westminster politics but I fully understand his reasons. "I wish
his wife Jan a full recovery and hope they will be very happy in their
retirement. I appreciate the dignified way that Andrew has conducted his
announcement. He will always be a friend of the party and a friend of
mine."