David Calvert

David Calvert (born 1946) is a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland. He worked as a director of a family shirt manufacturing company. He was a founder member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in County Armagh.[1]

Not to be confused with David Calvert-Smith.
For the Australian politician, see David Calvert (Australian politician).

He was elected to Craigavon Borough Council in 1973,[2] and held his seat until he stood down in 1989.[3]

He stood for the party in Fermanagh and South Tyrone at the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention election in 1975, but was not elected.[4]

He then moved to Armagh, which he contested at the 1979 UK general election, but took only 8.6% of the vote.[5]

In the early 1980s, Calvert was Deputy Chairman of the DUP,[6] and in the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he won a seat.[5] In 1987, he was seriously injured in an assassination attempt on his life by the Irish National Liberation Army, but recovered fully.[7] The INLA had also tried to kill him in 1981.[8] He fell out with the DUP in 1993, in a dispute over candidate selection, and was expelled from the party.[9]

Calvert stood as an independent candidate in Craigavon at the 2001 local elections, and narrowly missed taking a seat. He stood again in 2005, without success.[10] In 2006, he attended a meeting of critics of the Belfast Agreement, addressed by Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party,[9] but at the 2007 Assembly election he stood as an independent again, this time in Upper Bann, taking 3.1% of the vote.[11]

Following the elections, Calvert joined Traditional Unionist Voice, and stood for the party in a by-election to Craigavon Borough Council in January 2010, taking a distant second place.[12]

References
  1. Times Guide to the House of Commons, May 1979, p. 36
  2. The Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Craigavon, Northern Ireland Elections
  3. Local Government Elections 1985-1989: Craigavon, Northern Ireland Elections; accessed 11 November 2015.
  4. Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1973-1982, Northern Ireland Elections; accessed 11 November 2015.
  5. Armagh 1973-1983, Northern Ireland Elections; accessed 11 November 2015.
  6. Dod's parliamentary companion, Issue 164, p. 557
  7. Coogan, Tim Pat, The IRA, p. 357
  8. The Belfast Telegraph, 19 September 1983.
  9. Gareth Gordon, "Murmurs of 'betrayal' over power-sharing", BBC News, 8 December 2006
  10. Craigavon Borough Council Elections 1993-2005, Northern Ireland Elections
  11. Upper Bann, Northern Ireland Elections; accessed 11 November 2015.
  12. "Ulster Unionists win by-election", Belfast Telegraph, 14 January 2010.
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