David Ervine

David Ervine (21 July 1953 – 8 January 2007) was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who served as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 2002 to 2007 and was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East from 1998 to 2007.

During his youth Ervine was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was imprisoned for possessing bomb-making equipment.

Whilst in jail he became convinced of the benefits of a more political approach for loyalism and became involved with the PUP.

Ervine was arrested in November 1974, while an active member of the UVF.

He was driving a stolen car containing five pounds of commercial explosives, a detonator and fuse wire.

After seven months on remand in Crumlin Road Gaol, he was found guilty of possession of explosives with intent to endanger life.

He was sentenced to 11 years and imprisoned in The Maze.

While in prison, Ervine came under the influence of Gusty Spence who made him question what the loyalist struggle was about.

Spence's influence unquestionably changed Ervine's direction: after much study and self-analysis, Ervine emerged with the view that change through politics was the only option.

He also became friends with Billy Hutchinson while in prison.

Ervine was released from prison in 1980.

He owned a newsagents' in Belfast for several years before taking up full-time politics.

He stood in local council elections as a Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) candidate in 1985.

As a leading PUP figure, Ervine helped to deliver the loyalist ceasefire of 1994.

David Ervine was the youngest of five children born to Walter and Elizabeth Ervine.

He was raised in a Protestant working-class area of east Belfast between the Albertbridge and Newtownards roads.

His household was not loyalist at all: his father Walter described himself as a socialist, had no time for Ian Paisley and didn't attend church.

When Ervine joined the Orange Order aged 18, he said he was the first member of his family to ever be a member.

His membership, however, did not last long.

Like many in his situation, he grew up closely identifying with his community and absorbed its unionist ideals and opinions.

Ervine left Orangefield High School (Orangefield Boys Secondary School) at 14 and, aged 19, joined the UVF, believing this step to be the only way to ensure the defence of the Protestant community after the events of Bloody Friday.

A neighbour of Ervine's, William Irvine, who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), had died in one of the bomb blasts on that day.

Before joining the UVF Ervine had attempted to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), but due to a misdemeanour in his childhood involving a stolen bicycle he was refused entry.

Ervine is said to have played a pivotal role in bringing about the loyalist ceasefire of October 1994.

He was part of a delegation to Downing Street in June 1996 that met then British Prime Minister John Major to discuss the loyalist ceasefire.

In 1996 Ervine was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum from the regional list, having been an unsuccessful candidate in the East Belfast constituency.

Ervine was considered to be one of the most progressive unionists in Northern Ireland politics.

He had been a strong supporter of the Good Friday Agreement and was one of the few unionist politicians actively to support the Agreement.

He was also a member of Belfast City Council from 1997.

In 1998, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent Belfast East and was re-elected in 2003.

In the Northern Ireland Assembly, he was seen as a Unionist sympathetic to the short-term demands of Sinn Féin, resisting attempts by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to exclude Sinn Féin from office in July 2000 and October 2001.

At a Labour Party meeting in 2001, then Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, described him as "one of the most eloquent politicians in Northern Ireland".

Some of his opponents made references to him having swallowed a dictionary.

Some saw Ervine as one of the few politicians actively engaged with conflict resolution.

In April 2001, he provoked a direct political attack from the DUP over being the only unionist to vote against a motion condemning the display of lilies commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising at Parliament Buildings.

Ervine also expressed support for the right of Sinn Féin members to make speeches in Irish (Gaelic) on the floor of the Assembly.

Later, political commentators noted how he sat next to Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness at the funeral of Northern Ireland football legend George Best in December 2005 as a sign of how Northern Ireland had moved on.

In May 2005, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) recommended a continuation of the financial sanctions on Ervine's Assembly salary imposed following its report of April 2004.

The IMC was of the opinion that the UVF and the PUP maintained strong links while the former was heavily involved in criminality such as drug dealing and tobacco and fuel smuggling.

It further noted that the UVF was responsible for a number of acts of violence (including murder) and was actively maintaining its capacity to wage a terrorist campaign.