The 1971 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election was caused by the resignation of James Chichester-Clark, after he had failed to persuade the British Government to provide his government with more resources to quell the growing civil unrest.

Candidates

• Brian Faulkner - Minister for Development and long term leadership hopeful
• William Craig - MP for Larne who had been a critic of the leadership since he believed Terence O'Neill to have demoted him in 1968. Craig was to leave the Ulster Unionist Party and created the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in 1972.

Results

Candidate	Total
	Votes		%
Brian Faulkner Y	26		86.7
William Craig	4		13.3
Total	30		100

Sources

• Ireland since 1939, Henry Patterson (2001, Oxford University Press)
• A history of the Ulster Unionist Party, Graham Walker (2004, Manchester University Press)