John Mc Michael - Electoral Politics

Electoral Politics

McMichael came to support the ideas of republican Danny Morrison regarding the Armalite and ballot box strategy and felt that the UDA should also build up a political wing to this end. As a result, following the murder of Robert Bradford, he stood as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party candidate in the by-election for Bradford's South Belfast seat and ran the most high profile ULDP campaign ever seen, calling for a long term strategy of negotiated independence for Northern Ireland. Despite fears from mainstream unionists that McMichael might split their vote, he ultimately only captured 576 votes. After the failure of his political strategy, McMichael returned to his work with the UDA and, after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, he co-wrote another document Common Sense: Northern Ireland - An Agreed Process, which outlined plans for a future political settlement in Northern Ireland. The paper was viewed positively by some politicians including SDLP leader John Hume and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King. At this time, he and the UDA's Supreme Commander Andy Tyrie set up an elite group of men carefully selected from within the UDA; this unit, called the 'Ulster Defence Force' (UDF), was formed to make the organisation capable of meeting any "Doomsday" situation (such as a civil war) that might occur as a result of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The group's motto was Sans Peur, and the men received training by former British soldiers. McMichael was also allegedly put in charge of a UDA/UFF bombing campaign that was to be waged against the Republic of Ireland. Ultimately the proposed campaign was unsuccessful. The four incendiary bombs planted in the city centre of Dublin in November 1986 failed to inflict much damage. McMichael himself put the failure down to the lack of bombing expertise in the UDA.

McMichael sat on the Ulster Clubs executive and its security committee. In June 1985, he instructed UDA Intelligence chief Brian Nelson to travel to South Africa to investigate the possibility of obtaining weapons by proposing an exchange of arms. Nelson, who was a British military intelligence agent recruited by the Force Research Unit, made the journey. When he returned from the trip he reported his findings to McMichael, who had previously received reports regarding Nelson's unsatisfactory conduct in South Africa.

Four years earlier, McMichael had hoped to draw Catholic support for Beyond the Religious Divide, having made the following statement

"We'll just continue what we've been doing during the past year. It will become more and more obvious that the UDA is taking a very steady line, that we're not willing to fall into line behind sectarian politicians. It will take time. What people forget is that we also have to sell the idea to Protestants".

Paul Arthur, professor of politics at the University of Ulster, called him an "astute thinker". British journalist Peter Taylor, who met McMichael, described him as having been "articulate and tough", and his son by his first marriage, Gary, said of his father

"I think it was recognised that my father was no angel. He was a leader in a paramilitary organisation. Perhaps he'd been there and done that and bought the T-shirt. He was a well-respected person within the loyalist community and his credentials were extremely strong. People saw my father as someone who said that loyalism was at war with militant republicanism and he was unashamed about that. At that same time, he was also making a contribution to trying to push not just loyalism but everyone beyond conflict".