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."

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