Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
Party Leader David Trimble
The UUP has been the single largest and most powerful political party in Northern Ireland since the island’s partition in 1921. The central tenet of the party is the preservation of the union between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was the primary unionist party involved in the negotiations with nationalists and republicans that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998; since then its popularity has eroded somewhat. The party is run by the 800-member Ulster Unionist Council (UUC). David Trimble was considered a hardline opponent of nationalism when he was chosen leader of the UUP in 1995….
