Faulkner new Ulster P.M.

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32563, 24 March 1971, Page 22

Faulkner new Ulster P.M.

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) BELFAST, March 23. Mr Brian Faulkner, a leading figure in Northern Ireland's politicalreligious struggle, has been elected as Prime Minister of the British province in . succession to Major James Chichester-Clark, who has resigned. Mr Faulkner was Minister of Development in Major Chichester-Clark’s Cabinet.

Now regarded as a moderate, Mr Faulkner easily defeated Mr William Craig, a militant Protestant and Parliamentary colleague who wants the Royal Ulster constabulary to be rearmed and to see the establishment of internment camps for holding suspected Irish Republican Army terrorists without trial.

The contest for the leadership came at a caucus of the Parliamentary Unionist Party. Mr Faulkner received 26 votes, and Mr Craig, only four.

A prosperous industrialist, Mr Faulkner is more of a professional politician than any of his five predecessors during the 50-year history of Northern Ireland; all have tended to come from the ranks of the landed gentry, and all had British accents. Mr Faulkner is the first Prime Minister to have an Irish accent. The so-called “Provisonal Wing” of the outlawed Irish Republican Army today pledged itself to intensify its campaign to break Northern Island’s links with Britain. In a statement issued in Dublin, the Left-wing guer-

riilas claimed responsibility for the downfall of both Major Chichester-Clark and his predecessor, Captain Terence O’Neill.

“In two years of effort in the streets, two Prime Ministers have been got rid of. and the British occupation forces will be driven out eventually, as well as Unionism and all it stands for,” the statement said. "The I.R.A. Provisionals will pursue vigorously, in the face of even greater aggression, the policy of retaliation against British forces for brutalising the Irish people.

“We call on Irishmen at home and abroad to support fully the defence forces of our beleaguered people in this grave hour of national crisis.”