Editing Ulster Unionist Party (section)

=== Trimble leadership ===
[[David Trimble]] led the party between 1995 and 2005. His support for the [[Good Friday Agreement|Belfast Agreement]] caused a rupture within the party into pro-agreement and anti-agreement factions. Trimble served as [[First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland|First Minister of Northern Ireland]] in the power-sharing administration created under the [[Good Friday Agreement|Belfast Agreement]].

Unusually for a unionist party, the UUP had a Catholic [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)|MLA]] in the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]], [[John Gorman (politician)|Sir John Gorman]] until the 2003 election. In March 2005, the Orange Order voted to end its official links with the UUP. Trimble faced down Orange Order critics who tried to suspend him for his attendance at a Catholic funeral for a young boy killed by the [[Real Irish Republican Army|Real IRA]] in the [[Omagh bombing]]. In a sign of unity, Trimble and [[President of Ireland]] [[Mary McAleese]] walked into the church together.

In the 2001 general election, the Ulster Unionists lost a number of seats belonging to UUP stalwarts; for example, [[John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney|John Taylor]], the former deputy leader of the party, lost his seat of [[Strangford (UK Parliament constituency)|Strangford]] to [[Iris Robinson]].

The party held six seats at Westminster immediately before the 2005 general election, down from seven after the previous general election following the defection of [[Jeffrey Donaldson]] in 2004. The election resulted in the loss of five of their six seats. The only seat won by an Ulster Unionist was North Down, by [[Sylvia Hermon]], who had won the seat in the 2001 general election from Robert McCartney of [[UK Unionist Party]]. [[David Trimble]] himself lost his seat in [[Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)|Upper Bann]] and resigned as party leader soon after. The ensuing [[2005 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election|leadership election]] was won by [[Reg Empey]].