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James Hugh Allister (born 2 April 1953) is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster, Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim, having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.
Allister had been a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since its foundation in 1971, and for which he successfully stood for election in the 2004 European Parliament election for Northern Ireland, succeeding Ian Paisley. He continued as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) following his resignation from the DUP and establishment of the TUV, serving until 2009.
/ref> They had moved northeast to County Down from County Monaghan in 1949 or 1950.
Allister was a pupil at Barnamaghery Primary School and later Dundonald Primary School when he moved house. After attending Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards, Allister graduated from Queen's University Belfast with a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours in constitutional law. In 1974, he unsuccessfully stood for the post of president of Queen's University Belfast Students' Union.
In July 1984, Allister gave a speech at the unveiling of a loyalist mural in a housing estate in the Ballykeel area of Ballymena, County Antrim. Speaking to a crowd of assembled Ulster loyalism in Orkney Drive, Allister said; "There are those in this estate who do not like the red, white and blue. To those people and to everyone else who would betray us, the Ulster Loyalists say: 'No surrender'." Later, a crowd gathered outside the home of a Catholic family who lived in Orkney Drive, a married couple with six children, and pelted the house with stones, smashing windows and damaging the family car. The father, Ivan Smith, was also reportedly punched and kicked. The Smith family, who had lived in the area for thirteen years, fled shortly afterwards and were later rehoused."Intimidation follows speech", The Irish Times, July 12, 1984.
In August 1985, Allister attended the first major meeting of the Ulster Clubs (UULF) in Portadown. The UULF had originally formed as a committee earlier that year to oppose police plans to reroute traditional Orange Order parades away from nationalist areas of Portadown. The UULF was supported by the paramilitary organisation the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) with South Belfast Brigade chief and UDA deputy leader John McMichael being appointed to the coordinating committee. Unionists blamed the Irish government for loyalist parades being rerouted from predominantly Catholic areas and the UULF's stated purpose was to oppose further perceived interference from Dublin, although the group's secretary told the press ahead of the meeting that "he would not expect paramilitary action to be decided tonight"."New loyalist group silent over tactics", Belfast Telegraph, August 7, 1985.
That same month Allister organised a rally inaugurating the Ballymena battalion of a new Ulster loyalism, Ulster Resistance. Allister, DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson, and Ulster Clubs chairman Alan Wright led hundreds of loyalists, many wearing paramilitary uniforms and some wearing masks, parading in a show of strength that culminated at Ballymena Town Hall, where DUP leader Ian Paisley was waiting. Inside Paisley donned a red Ulster Resistance beret on stage, daring the RUC to arrest him while Allister pledged his "personal support" to Ulster Resistance."Loyalists On March", Belfast News Letter, November 21, 1986.
Allister claimed that the RUC had erected a "ring of steel" around the town in an attempt to prevent them from marching to the site of the meeting; he was cheered when he informed the gathered crowd that the colour party had instead entered the town through adjoining fields."Anti-pact colour party foiled check, says DUP man", Belfast Telegraph, November 21, 1986. The RUC denied any undue holdups and stated no arrests were made. When questioned by the press Allister declined to say how many were in attendance but claimed that Ulster Resistance rallies seemed to grow in size every night, declaring:
His departure from active politics in June 1987 followed a reported disagreement with Paisley over a voting pact with James Molyneaux's UUP. The situation resembled fellow unionist politician and barrister Robert McCartney's in the North Down constituency. McCartney was expelled from the UUP around the same time for not accepting the policy of the leadership.
In 2003, he represented Loyalist Volunteer Force member Clifford McKeown in court in a case regarding the 1996 murder of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick. McKeown was found guilty of the murder by the court. Allister said that McKeown would be appealing against the conviction.
It is reported that he participated in more parliamentary debates and asked more questions than his fellow Northern Irish MEPs Bairbre de Brún of Sinn Féin and Jim Nicholson of the Ulster Unionist Party. Allister was also active as a member of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee and was ranked by the pressure group TaxPayers' Alliance as the most "hard-working, transparent and pro-taxpayer" of the 75 United Kingdom MEPs during the 2004–2009 European Parliament.
On 27 March 2007, Allister resigned from the DUP because of the party's decision to enter into government with Sinn Féin. It was the second occasion on which he had resigned from the party.
In late 2007, there was speculation that Allister might found a new unionist political party. It was also claimed, on 10 October 2007, that he had been approached by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), but he in fact proceeded to found the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) on 7 December 2007.
In the 2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, this time standing as a TUV candidate, Allister polled 13.5 per cent of the first-preference votes cast but was not re-elected.
Allister is a vocal critic of the A5 Western Transport Corridor, and claimed in 2010 a proposed bypass around Dungiven on the A6 would destroy some Protestant-owned farms and suggested this was planned "in order to avoid the more direct route which would disrupt the GAA facilities"."A5 and A6 road upgrade projects will go ahead", Belfast Newsletter, January 21, 2010.
Allister returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly at the 2011 election, being the last candidate elected in North Antrim.
In 2012, the year after his return to the Assembly, Allister established at Parliament Buildings in Belfast an annual event to mark the European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism – each year on the anniversary of the Madrid bombings of 11 March 2004, the European Union remembers the victims of terrorist attacks across the world.
In August 2012, Allister called the Parades Commission "little " when they placed restrictions on a loyalist parade.
In June 2013, a private member's bill proposed by Allister - the Civil Service (Special Advisers) Bill – was voted into law by the Northern Ireland Assembly. The bill's aim was to tighten the rules governing appointment of special advisers (SPADS) by ministers of the Northern Ireland government. Amongst other things, the new law debarred anyone convicted of an offence carrying a jail sentence of five years or more from appointment as a SPAD. Allister said that he was inspired to introduce the bill by the example of Ann Travers who had protested against the appointment, in 2011, of former IRA member Mary McArdle to the position of special adviser by the then Sinn Féin minister for culture and arts. McArdle had been convicted for her part in the 1972 murder of Mary Travers and the serious wounding of her father, Tom Travers, a Belfast magistrate. Some years later, Allister recalled: "I labelled it 'Ann's Law' because that's a proper tribute to the driving force behind it. That's probably my proudest moment as a politician … to have left on the statute book the first victory in years for innocent victims."
Allister holds conservative views on social policy, and is a supporter of the evangelicalism creationism lobby group, the Caleb Foundation.
He ran again for Northern Ireland at the 2014 European Parliament election, receiving 75,806 first-preference votes (12.1%), a decrease of 1.6%.
At the 2016 Assembly election, Allister topped the poll in North Antrim, and was elected on the seventh count.
In November 2016, Allister opposed a motion pardoning gay men convicted for formerly illegal homosexual acts.
In February 2021, the Functioning of Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was passed by a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Introduced as a private member's bill by Jim Allister, the bill's primary aim was to correct dysfunctional behaviour by ministers, special advisers and civil servants who ran the government of Northern Ireland. The Coghlin Report (March 2020); into the Renewable Heating Incentive scheme scandal; had proposed 44 recommendations for improvement in the functioning of the Northern Ireland government and its civil service.; The NI Executive and Assembly had responded to this report by creating a new code of conduct to address these failures. But Allister was of the opinion that this was insufficient and that law, rather than guidance, was necessary to remedy the problems identified in the report.; The bill he proposed was complex, detailed and led to much debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly but most of its content was eventually approved, with only one of the parties in the assembly objecting to all of its content.; As a result of the new law,;; written records of all governmental meetings were to be taken by civil servants, confidential government business was no longer to be discussed via private email accounts, sharing of confidential information which could be used for private financial gain was to be a criminal offence, ministers and special advisers were to sign a registry of interests which would show whether their personal financial interest overlapped with their elected responsibilities, and the appointment of so-called 'super-spads' by a political party rather than via the normal civil service appointment procedures was prohibited.; Finally, the first minister and deputy first minister were to produce a report, every two years, regarding the functional performance of the government, its departments and attached civil service personnel.
An August 2021, opinion poll by the polling company LucidTalk found a large rise in support for Allister's party the TUV to 14% of first preference vote intentions in the upcoming May 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly elections. At the same time, the poll found that 51 per cent of those who responded rated Allister's performance as "bad or awful", compared with "bad or awful" ratings for Paul Givan, Jeffrey Donaldson and Michelle O'Neill of 48, 47 and 45 per cent, respectively. TUV failed to win any new seats in the election, despite increasing their overall vote by 5.0%. Allister was re-elected in North Antrim on the fifth count, polling 8,282 first-preferences (16.4%). Expressing his disappointment during the count, he said: “We have 7.6 percent of the vote, a massive increase, but that is not reflected in the number of seats. It is very disappointing when you collect 4-5,000 votes or more in many other constituencies that it doesn’t translate into seats because of the vagaries of the system.”
Following his election, there was speculation as to whether Allister would sit as a Reform UK MP, alongside their five MPs in the commons. While announcing the former deputy mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Timothy Gaston, as his successor in the Assembly, Allister confirmed that he would not be formally taking the Reform whip, but would do so when supporting the party on 'agreed issues'.
Allister's voting record and his other contributions in the House of Commons are listed on the Parliament-UK portal.
A poll by LucidTalk in August 2025 found Allister to be the most popular leader among unionist voters. Additionally, the TUV were also found to have secured enough support to overtake both the Alliance Party and UUP for the first time, becoming the third-most popular party. The poll showed that 13% of voters intended to vote TUV at the next Assembly election.
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