Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 1971

The Ulster Unionist Party leadership election of 1971 was caused by the resignation of James Chichester-Clark, after he had failed to persuade the British Government to provide his government with more resources to quell the growing civil unrest.

Candidates

• Brian Faulkner - Minister for Development and long term leadership hopeful
• William Craig - MP for Larne who had been a critic of the leadership since he believed Terence O'Neill to have demoted him in 1967

Results

Faulkner won easily by 26 votes to 4

Sources

• Ireland since 1939, Henry Patterson (2001, Oxford University Press)
• A history of the Ulster Unionist Party, Graham Walker (2004, Manchester University Press)