Editing Johnny Adair (section)

====Expulsion from the UDA====
On 20 September 2002, Adair was summoned to an Inner Council meeting held in [[Sandy Row]] where there was a showdown between him and the other brigadiers, including Gray. Fearing an ambush, Adair had his allies "Fat" Jackie Thompson and [[James Millar (loyalist)|James "Sham" Millar]] smuggle a pistol for him to the meeting. Five days later, Adair was expelled from the UDA for treason along with close associate John White. Adair's response to the expulsion was "Fuck them uns" and declared the West Belfast Brigade a separate organisation from the mainstream UDA.<ref name="lister321">Lister & Jordan, p. 321</ref> He even erected "West Belfast UDA – Business as Usual" banners on the Shankill Road.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, pp. 374–75</ref> By this point Adair had even lost the support of the [[Shoukri brothers]], his proteges in north Belfast who had been amongst his closest allies outside of his own area but who decided to side with the mainstream UDA in this dispute.<ref name="lister321"/> There were attempts on Adair's and White's lives.

Adair returned to prison in January 2003, when his early release licence was revoked by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [[Paul Murphy, Baron Murphy of Torfaen|Paul Murphy]] on grounds of engaging in unlawful activity. He appointed "Fat" Jackie Thompson as his replacement as Brigadier.<ref>Lister & Jordan, p. 327</ref> On 1 February 2003, UDA divisional leader John Gregg was shot dead along with another UDA member, Robert "Rab" Carson, on returning from a [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers FC]] match in Glasgow. The killing was widely blamed on Adair's C Company – Gregg was one of those who had organised the expulsion of Adair from the UDA. Among the mainstream UDA, a powerful faction of Adair opponents quickly formed under the leadership of South Belfast brigadier [[Jackie McDonald]]. In the early hours of 6 February (five days after Gregg's shooting and just hours before his funeral was due to take place), about twenty Adair supporters, including White and Adair's wife, fled their homes for Scotland after 100 heavily armed men from the mainstream UDA invaded Adair's stronghold, forcing them to quit Northern Ireland.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, p. 386</ref>