1971 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election explained

Election Name:	1971 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election
Type:	presidential
Previous Election:	1969 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election
Previous Year:	1969
Next Election:	1974 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election
Next Year:	1974
Election Date:	1971
Candidate1:	Brian Faulkner
Colour1:	48A5EE
Popular Vote1:	26
Percentage1:	86.7%
Candidate2:	William Craig
Colour2:	48A5EE
Popular Vote2:	4
Percentage2:	13.3%
Leader
Before Election:	James Chichester-Clark
After Election:	Brian Faulkner

The 1971 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election 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 1968. Craig was to leave the Ulster Unionist Party and created the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in 1972.

Results

Candidate	Total
	Votes		%
Brian Faulkner	26		86.7
William Craig	4		13.3
Total	30		100

Sources

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