Vanguard

Vanguard

Vanguard or the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party was a far-right Northern Irish splinter group from the Ulster Unionist Party that played an important role during the Troubles. Founded in March 1973 and led by the hardline William Craig, it advocated the full independence of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom. In the previous 1973 Assembly elections, the party picked up 7 seats with 10.5% of the vote. It also contested Westminster elections with moderate success.

Although linked to Loyalist paramilitary groups, Craig himself only reluctantly supported them believing them to be a necessary evil. As well as sympathising with full Northern Irish independence, the party demanded the extermination of the IRA and a reversal of all previous reform undertaken by Brian Faulkner and his UUP predecessors.

Following the collapse of the Sunningdale Agreement, Vanguard rapidly declined leading to its dissolution in 1978. One of its early recruits was the young David Trimble future leader of the UUP.