T.E. (Peter) Utley CBE* (1921-88), Tory philosopher and writer (chiefly for The Daily Telegraph), was the most brilliant and inspiring man I have ever known. Margaret Thatcher described him as “the most distinguished Tory thinker of our time”. Enoch Powell wrote that “his influence was magnified by the spellbinding effect which his fluent and incisive discourse produced, especially upon young hearers”.
Peter Utley loved Northern Ireland and all its people. He spent much time in the Province. Ulster’s Union with Great Britain was the political cause to which he attached overriding importance.
In April each year a prize is awarded in his memory for the best essay submitted during the academic year by a young man or woman studying at one of the 80 schools participating in the Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition, of which I am President. The Competition, established in 1993, is run by its founding Chairman, Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle CBE, Lord-Lieutenant for the County Borough of Belfast,
Peter Utley regarded fashionable political causes with profound Tory scepticism, eloquently expressed. He rejected the almost universal view that Northern is best governed by a power-sharing executive and legislature. He did not believe that Britain’s destiny lay inevitably in a pan-European organisation.
27 years after his death these two issues remain at the forefront of politics. The two alternative essay questions I have set for 2015-16 invite the young people of Ulster today to reflect upon them:
- “All ended in failure, precisely predictable failure”. Writing shortly before his death in 1988, T.E. Utley looked back on a succession of unsuccessful attempts to establish a devolved, power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. Will successful, stable power-sharing ever be achieved?
- “The Conservative government contends that if we join the Common Market we shall have to accept some diminution of the sovereignty of Parliament, but that this sacrifice will be worth while because of the diplomatic and economic advantages it will confer”. Writing in 1962 when the UK was negotiating to enter what has now become the European Union, T.E. Utley was unconvinced by the then government’s claim. Was he right?
* His death came suddenly before the knighthood that was to be conferred upon him had been announced.