William Craig talks about the motivations of 12 members of the Unionist Party in writing an open letter to Terence O'Neill calling for a change of leadership to end disunity within the party.
William Craig says that there is a perception that anyone who has a dispute with Captain O'Neill is classed as some sort of reactionary. Craig is in favour of pursuing even more imaginative and progressive programmes. Craig argues that O'Neill has lost the confidence of the party particularly in the constituencies where there is grave disunity which seems to centre around the leadership.
Craig also states that he has no personal desire to be Prime Minister and would only consider it if there were no other acceptable candidates.
Rodney Rice also questions Craig about the suitability of Faulkner as a potential leader.
| Title: | William Craig on Question of Leadership |
| Clip Duration: | 00:04:07 |
| Material Type: | Video |
| Clip Title: | "There is a Massive Split Now on the Question of Leadership" |
| Series Title: | 7 Days |
| Information: | A '7 Days' report by Rodney Rice on the Northern Ireland leadership question broadcast on 31 January 1969. 'Seven Days' began broadcasting on 26 September 1966 and was RTÉ television's flagship current affairs programme for ten years. The programme's young production team was made up of producer Lelia Doolan, directors Eoghan Harris and Dick Hill, and reporters John O'Donoghue, Brian Cleeve and Brian Farrell. Muiris Mac Conghail became producer of '7 Days' in 1967 when the programme was merged with another current affairs programme, 'Division'. |
| Local Keywords: | Northern Ireland, The Troubles, 1969, Stormont, William Craig, Unionist Party, Terence O'Neill, Rodney Rice, 7 Days, Seven Days |
| Coverage: | Ireland, Belfast |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Wars and Conflict |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Contributor(s): | Rodney Rice (Reporter) |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| First Broadcast Channel: | RTÉ |
| Production Year: | 1969 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | P103/00069 |
| IPR Restrictions: | Rights Reserved - Free Access |
| Rights, Terms and Conditions: | Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
| Item Type: | part/extract |
| Colour: | Black and White |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Language: | English (eng) |
