In October 1996 Fortnight magazine published an article which asked:
“What does Billy Wright think? Since the Combined Loyalist Military Command gave him the choice of exile or death, Wright has maintained that it is his thinking that got him into trouble with organisations he previously supported. Although he consistently denies that he is a member of the UVF, he still publicly supports its aims. When Willie McCrea, the DUP MP for Mid-Ulster, spoke in support of Wright at a loyalist rally in Portadown last month, he did so in support of his freedom of speech, and not he stressed, in support of loyalist paramilitarism.
“So what is it about Wright’s opinions that make him unacceptable to the CLMC and their political ‘advisors’, the Progressive Unionist Party and the Ulster Democratic Party? An insight into his thinking is published below, based on a meeting of an ad hoc ‘think tank’ held since the Portadown rally, at which Wright discussed his beliefs with writers and academics sympathetic towards loyalism. The author wishes to remain anonymous.”
The edition also reported on some ‘new’ influential figures in the UUP, and the reaction by some of the party’s members to a ‘shift’ to the right by the organisation.
Three articles from the October 1996 edition can be read by clicking on the link below: