David Calvert

Not to be confused with David Calvert-Smith.

David Calvert (born 1946) is a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Calvert 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] He was elected to Craigavon Borough Council in 1973,^[2] and held his seat until he stood down in 1989.^[3] Calvert also 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 Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982, he won a seat.^[5] In 1987, he was seriously injured in one of a string of Irish National Liberation Army attacks on DUP councillors.^[7] He fell out with the DUP in 1993, in a dispute over candidate selection, and was expelled from the party.^[8]

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.^[9] In 2006, he attended a meeting of critics of the Belfast Agreement, addressed by Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party,^[8] but at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007 he stood as an independent again, this time in Upper Bann, taking 3.1% of the vote.^[10]

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.^[11]

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
4. ^ Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1973-1982, Northern Ireland Elections
5. ^ ^{a b} Armagh 1973-1983, Northern Ireland Elections
6. ^ Dod's parliamentary companion, Issue 164, p.557
7. ^ Tim Pat Coogan, The IRA, p.357
8. ^ ^{a b} Gareth Gordon, "Murmurs of 'betrayal' over power-sharing", BBC News, 8 December 2006
9. ^ Craigavon Borough Council Elections 1993 - 2005, Northern Ireland Elections
10. ^ Upper Bann, Northern Ireland Elections
11. ^ "Ulster Unionists win by-election", Belfast Telegraph, 14 January 2010

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Name	Calvert, David
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Date of birth	1946
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