Twenty-five years on, Gary McMichael, who led the Ulster Democratic Party when loyalist paramilitaries declared a ceasefire, believes that a generation of loyalist leaders have not received their due. Back then, aged just 25, McMichael, in his role as leader of the UDP, was the political voice of the Ulster Defence Association UDA , frequently featuring on television screens, or seen entering or leaving meetings. They posed for a picture afterwards, with big smiles on their faces.
Looking back, the evident satisfaction shown by the group seemed to offer real hope that the conflict was over after 25 years.
McMichael lives more quietly now, running an addiction charity in Lisburn. Recalling the 25th anniversary of the loyalist ceasefire, which falls on Sunday, McMichael remembers, too, the breakdown of the first IRA ceasefire 16 months later, in February , when bombs exploded in Canary Wharf. If he and the likes of Adams, Ervine, Billy Hutchinson and other loyalists had not been able to contain that beast, Northern Ireland could have been thrust right back into another cycle of violence.
In October people such as McMichael hoped that working-class loyalists would develop their own political voice, rather than being exploited the Democratic Unionist Party , the Ulster Unionists or extreme elements. For a time it looked like that would happen.
David Ervine and Billy Hutchinson were elected to the Stormont Assembly, but political loyalism never achieved roots that were sufficiently deep to build long-term support. Today loyalism has fallen back. The stories are of vicious internal squabbles, racketeering, drug dealing, intimidation, extortion in places such as the Shankill, east Belfast, south Antrim. People who do not make weekly payments face the risk of having their businesses torched.
The Price of Victory. Inside Guantanamo. Teens warned over anti-depressant. Licence to Murder nominated. Seroxat programmes short listed. My programme was not Powellite. Reporters hit back at criticism. Blunkett attacks BBC asylum day. Links to more Panorama stories are at the foot of the page. You are in: Programmes: Panorama. News Front Page. Middle East. In the case of John White, you can understand why the Special Branch would have considered him useful, and why they would be prepared to pay for his information.
There was his association with Johnny Adair, no-one was closer, his role within political loyalism after the ceasefire and in the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement and his links to the Inner Council of the UDA.
White sat in meetings attended by the so-called brigadiers - the six most senior figures in the paramilitary group. So, on the face of things, he would have been a valuable listening device inside this part of the loyalist community, but, of course, there is another side to the story. He is a convicted killer. He was also a suspected drug dealer, and he and Adair became two of the most destabilising influences inside loyalism during the peace process years.
Indeed, it could be argued that they are largely responsible for the mess that loyalism now finds itself in. In the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement, during a private session of political talks in Castle Buildings at Stormont, the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams came close to naming White as a drug dealer.
It was obvious to everyone who Adams was talking about , not least John. This command structure was crucial to achieving the ceasefire and pointing these groups in the direction of politics and peace. This source said that at one meeting of the CLMC, White had said he could see "no contradiction in being a drug dealer and a patriot". Another source said that he had attempted to take overall control of the UDA: "At one time John wanted to be part of the Inner Council, and wanted to be leader of the whole thing.
Was this John White operating on his own initiative, or were others directing him towards the decision-making table of the UDA? In the intelligence world and in the Dirty War there were all kinds of puppets on all kinds of strings. In the United States Census, White ranked fourteenth among all reported surnames in frequency, accounting for 0. Retrieved on 07 Loyalist feud — A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland s various loyalist paramilitary groups since the late s.
The most violent was one in , which split the Ulster Defence… … Wikipedia. He was a delegate for Georgia in the Continental Congress in He was twice Governor of Georgia, in , and again … Wikipedia.
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