Vintage 5.5x7 B&W glossy Irish Press photograph signed in ballpoint ink by Brian Faulkner. Stamped on the back is "Irish Press 11 Aug 1972 Art Department" with additional handwritten notes in ballpoint ink. The photo has scattered creasing throughout. In fair condition. (1921-1977) Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive of the short-lived Northern Ireland Executive during the first half of 1974.Faulkner was also the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1971 to 1974. Faulkner was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and Prime Minister. However, this initiative (radical at the time) was overtaken by events. The shooting of two Catholic youths in Derry by British soldiers prompted the SDLP, the largest Nationalist party and the main opposition to boycott the Stormont parliament. The political climate deteriorated further when, in response to the worsening security situation, Faulkner introduced internment on 9 August 1971. This was a disaster; instead of lessening the violence, it caused the situation to worsen.Despite this, Faulkner continued his radical approach to Northern Irish politics and, following Bleakley's resignation in September 1971 over the internment issue, appointed Dr. G. B. Newe, a prominent lay Catholic, as Minister of State in the Cabinet Office. Faulkner's administration staggered on through the rest of 1971, insisting that security was the paramount issue.In January 1972, an incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry, during which paratroopers shot and killed thirteen unarmed civilians. A fourteenth civilian was to die later. What history has come to know as Bloody Sunday was, in essence, the end of Faulkner's government. In March 1972, Faulkner refused to maintain a government without security powers which the British government under Edward Heath decided to take back. The Stormont parliament was subsequently prorogued (initially for a period of one year) and following the appointment of a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, direct rule was introduced. In June 1973, elections were held to a new devolved parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly. The elections split the UUP. Faulkner became chief executive in a power-sharing executive with the SDLP and the center-ground Alliance Party, a political alliance cemented at the Sunningdale Conference that year. However, the prominence in the Sunningdale Agreement of the cross-border Council of Ireland suggested that Faulkner had strayed too far ahead of his party. A section of the party had previously broken away to form the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, which contested the elections in opposition to the UUP.The power-sharing Executive which he led lasted only six months and was brought down by a loyalist Ulster Workers Council Strike in May 1974. Loyalist paramilitary organizations were prominent in intimidating utility workers and blockading roads. The strike had the tacit support of many unionists. In 1974, Faulkner lost the leadership of the UUP to anti-Sunningdale elements led by Harry West. He subsequently resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party and formed the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.The UPNI fared badly in the Convention elections of 1975, winning only five out of the 78 seats contested. Whereas Faulkner had topped the poll in South Down in 1973 with over 16,000 votes, he polled just 6,035 votes in 1975 and finished seventh, winning the final seat.[4] In 1976 Faulkner announced that he was quitting active politics. He was elevated to the House of Lords in the New Year's Honours list of 1977, being created Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, of Downpatrick in the County of Down on 7 February 1977. This lot came from the Jim Wiggins collection we purchased in July 2022. Jim Wiggins accumulated the most unique and valuable autograph collection over a period of 70-plus years. He obtained his collection either in person or by writing to persons of fame and notoriety. Comes with a full Letter of Authenticity from Todd Mueller Authentics.