On 21 April 1970, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) was formally established. The party grew out of the New Ulster Movement, formed 5 February 1969 – a group that espoused moderate unionism and inclusive, cross-community reforms in response to the Northern Ireland civil rights movement.

The party’s “New Ulster” roots referred to the moderate unionism espoused by Terence O’Neill, who served as Northern Ireland prime minister from March 1963 to April 1969.

***

In November 1968, O’Neill responded to the deterioration of community relations with a five-point reform programme of concessions. The package included measures such as an independent ombudsman to investigate complaints against government departments, a new ‘development corporation’ to replace the Londonderry corporation (which was known for gerrymandering), and new guidelines for housing allocations based on need.

O’Neill famously appealed to moderate (especially unionist) opinion in an address on 9 December 1968, in what became known as the “Ulster at the Crossroads” speech.

In aristocratic tones, the prime minister declared: “Ulster stands at the crossroads. I believe you know me well enough by now to appreciate that I am not a man given to extravagant language. But I must say to you this evening that our conduct over the coming days and weeks will decide our future.”

But faced with collapsing support in his own party, O’Neill was forced into a final gamble, calling a surprise general election in February 1969. The New Ulster Movement was formed to support O’Neillite candidates at the February 1969 Northern Ireland general election – the main feature of which was the fragmentation of the ruling Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) between supporters of the serving PM’s reform programme and its vehement opponents.

In the end, 27 pro-O’Neill unionists were elected, versus 12 who were either undecided or considered anti-O’Neill unionists. The result meant O’Neill had failed to secure a clear majority to pass his reforms.

On 23 April, the proposal to introduce universal adult suffrage in local government elections in Northern Ireland was passed by 28 votes to 22, accepting the demand for “one man, one vote”. James Chichester-Clark, the minister of agriculture, resigned in protest.

On 28 April 1969, O’Neill resigned as prime minister. It came after a series of bomb explosions carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

***

The Alliance Party’s founding members were mostly moderate unionists, therefore, including former members of the UUP.

Upon its founding, the new party issued an inaugural manifesto, entitled Declaration of Intent – A new Political Chapter, which repudiated the Unionist and Nationalist parties “for whom the clock stopped in 1920” as well as the Labour and Liberal parties “who have palpably failed to restart that clock”.

Specifically, the Alliance highlighted the UUP’s “divisive and undemocratic link with the Orange Order” as proof that the party “could not and cannot create a united and harmonious community.”

The party also repudiated the Nationalist Party for having “merely served to perpetuate existing community divisions” and failing to act as a “responsible opposition.”

The Alliance declared: “We say to all these parties – ‘A plague on all your houses’. The people of Northern Ireland will tolerate your blindness no longer; they will not stand by and see you despoil the next fifty years a s you have wasted the first fifty.”

The manifesto opened by observing that Northern Ireland was “languishing in despair” and that the province’s “name in the world at large is tarnished.”

The Alliance argued that the political system had created a “shapeless community, riven by sectarian fear”, and that too many had accepted the narrow strictures of the 1920s, allowing Northern Ireland to degenerate into “warring factions wallowing in a hatred and distrust which has brought us to the very brink of civil war.”

The declaration set out four principles upon which the new Alliance Party of Northern Ireland would be founded. The first sought to reconcile support for the UK with a demand for civil rights, arguing that the Union is “in the best economical and social interest of all citizens.” Critically, the party argued that the Union implied “British standards of democracy and social justice”, which must be “energetically secured and steadfastly upheld.”

The Alliance defined its principal objective as healing “the bitter divisions in our community”, outlining a vision based on “equality of citizenship and of human dignity” and the “rooting out of discrimination and injustice.”

The declaration added: “Our economic policies will not be shackled by any economic dogma, whether socialist or conservative…

“Equal justice will be guaranteed to all citizens regardless of their political or religious persuasion.”

The manifesto concluded with a reference to O’Neill’s famous 1969 address, warning that it was “dangerous to dally any longer at the crossroads”.

Its authors stated: “Our generation has the opportunity for greatness; we must seize that opportunity so that our children and heirs will look back with gratitude and affection to the men and women who did indeed lay the foundations of a just and progressive society in our land.”

***

In early 1972, three members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons defected to the Alliance party, namely Bertie McConnell, an independent Unionist; Phelim O’Neill of the UUP; and Tom Gormley, who sat as an independent nationalist. This institutional foothold was short-lived, however. The Stormont parliament was suspended and direct rule imposed mere weeks later.

In 1973, the Alliance Party won its first MP after Stratton Mills defected from the UUP. But this too was short-lived; Mills stood down at the February 1974 general election.

The Alliance Party participated in the Sunningdale Agreement negotiations in 1973, which led to Northern Ireland’s first power-sharing executive. In the elections that followed the agreement, the party won 9.2% of the vote and eight seats. Alliance leader Oliver Napier, held the office of minister for law reform in the ill-fated executive.

In 1977, the Alliance Party reached its highest electoral standing when it won 14.3% of the vote.

In June 1998, the party won 6% of the vote and six seats in the new Northern Ireland assembly created by the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

During the 1990s, the Alliance Party shifted towards a neutral stance on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.

In 2010, Naomi Long became the party’s first elected MP, winning the Belfast East seat from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) incumbent, Peter Robinson.