Statement by TUV President William Ross:
“His friends will all feel a deep sense of loss at the death of James Molyneaux but we all know that his family circle will feel the pain of his passing most keenly. To them all we extend our deepest sympathy.
“Jim Molyneaux served his Country in World War 11 and given his experience of seeing with his own eyes the horrors of a German concentration, extermination camp, at the end of the War knew that giving in to evil at any point simply led to greater evils.
“When he returned to civilian life he became involved in politics. He succeeded Sir Knox Cunningham as Unionist Party Member of Parliament for South Antrim and later became Party Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. It was as a political leader in the darkest days of the IRA violence and terror that he rendered his greatest service to his beloved Ulster. He was a calm reasoned voice in those stormy times and he knew that only in an Ulster secure within the United Kingdom was any real hope of stability. He was respected within the Party and within the wider Ulster community. He held the disparate strands of the Unionist Party together as probably no one else could have done during those years.
“He saw very clearly the dangers, not only for Northern Ireland but for the wider U.K., in all the demands of the narrow Nationalist forces ranged against the Union. As Party Leader he was supported by the Unionist Party M.Ps in his rejection of the dangerous insidious proposals from successive Governments. It is a matter of bitter regret that his advice was not followed.
“Those who knew him best as a friend and colleague in all his varied interests in the Loyal Orders and in Parliament have lost a dear and valued friend and Ulster Unionism has lost the finest and most consistent defender of Unionism of his generation.”