Jim Allister - Second Political Career (2004 - Present)

Present)

After a successful period as a lawyer, Allister returned to run for the party's nomination for MEP in 2004 after secret approaches by several DUP officials and supporters alike. Allister was elected to the European Parliament for the DUP in the 2004 election. In March 2005 Allister was the victim of cybersquatting, when a domain advertised on the outside of his office was registered by the Ulster Young Unionist Council which preceded him. The domain read "Too slow Jim, vote Ulster Unionist"

On 27 March 2007, he 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 the press conference announcing his resignation, he stated that he could never accept Sinn Féin in the government of Northern Ireland while the Provisional IRA Army Council remained in existence.

In late 2007, speculation began over Allister's political intentions, with it being suggested that a new Unionist political party was imminent. While it was suggested on 10 October 2007 that he had been approached by the United Kingdom Independence Party, he proceeded to found the Traditional Unionist Voice on 7 December 2007. In the 2009 European elections, he gained 66,000 first preference votes and 13.5% of the first preference vote, standing as a TUV candidate, but lost his European parliament seat on the second count. His candidacy was blamed in some quarters for the poor performance of the DUP candidate, Diane Dodds.

He intimated that he might stand as a candidate for the Westminster Parliamentary election in North Antrim. According to the European election result in North Antrim, Allister stood a good chance of winning the seat, which would have been a tremendous loss to the DUP - historically the DUP's safest seat in the land and the seat of DUP founder and former party leader Ian Paisley. In November 2009, Alex Kane, the Ulster Unionist Party's press officer, speculated in his weekly News Letter column that Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) could win at least 14 seats in the next Assembly election. In the 2010 General Election Allister finished second in North Antrim, with 7,114 votes to the DUP's Ian Paisley Junior who polled 19,672 votes. His TUV party polled some 26,300 votes throughout Northern Ireland, a drop of almost two-thirds in their level of support at the European election in 2009. In the 2011 Stormont Election, he was elected MLA of North Antrim claiming the 6th seat.

Jim Allister called the parades commission little Hitlers when they placed restrictions on a loyalist parade.