David Calvert is a unionist politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Calvert worked as a director of a family shirt manufacturing company. He was a founder member of the Democratic Unionist Party

Democratic Unionist Party

The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

 (DUP) in County Armagh

County Armagh

-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...

. He was elected to Craigavon Borough Council

Craigavon Borough Council

Craigavon Borough Council is a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. The headquarters of the council is in Craigavon, on the shores of Lough Neagh, a new town built between Lurgan and Portadown. The council area includes the large towns of Lurgan and Portadown, as...

 in 1973

Northern Ireland local elections, 1973

Local government in Northern Ireland was reorganised in 1973 by the Local Government Act 1971 and the Local Government Act 1972...

, and held his seat until he stood down in 1989. Calvert also stood for the party in Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Fermanagh and South Tyrone (Assembly constituency)

Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...

 at the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention

The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention was an elected body set up in 1975 by the UK Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland....

 election in 1975, but was not elected. He then moved to Armagh

Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)

Armagh or County Armagh was a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983.The Act of Union 1800 provided for the Parliament of Ireland to be merged with the Parliament of Great Britain, to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

, which he contested at the 1979 UK general election, but took only 8.6% of the vote.

In the early 1980s, Calvert was Deputy Chairman of the DUP, and in the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982, he won a seat. In 1987, he was seriously injured in one of a string of Irish National Liberation Army

Irish National Liberation Army

The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....

 attacks on DUP councillors. He fell out with the DUP in 1993, in a dispute over candidate selection, and was expelled from the party.

Calvert stood as an independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 candidate in Craigavon at the 2001 local elections

Northern Ireland local elections, 2001

Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on 7 June 2001 along with the 2001 general election across the entire United Kingdom.-Overall:-Belfast:-References:...

, and narrowly missed taking a seat. He stood again in 2005

Northern Ireland local elections, 2005

Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on 5 May 2005 along with the 2005 general election across the entire United Kingdom and local elections in England.-Results:-Belfast:-Derry:...

, without success. In 2006, he attended a meeting of critics of the Belfast Agreement

Belfast Agreement

The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...

, addressed by Robert McCartney

Robert McCartney (politician)

Robert Law McCartney QC is a Northern Ireland barrister and former leader of the UK Unionist Party.He was initially a member of the Ulster Unionist Party but was expelled in June 1987 when he refused to withdraw from the general election of that year...

 of the UK Unionist Party

UK Unionist Party

The UK Unionist Party was a small unionist political party operating in Northern Ireland from 1995 to 2008. It was nominally formed by Robert McCartney, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party, to contest a by-election the North Down by-election, 1995 and then further constituted to contest the 1996...

, but at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007

The third elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 7 March 2007 when 108 new members were elected. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, along with the Alliance Party, increase their...

 he stood as an independent again, this time in Upper Bann

Upper Bann (Assembly constituency)

Upper Bann is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996...

, taking 3.1% of the vote.

Following the elections, Calvert joined Traditional Unionist Voice

Traditional Unionist Voice

Traditional Unionist Voice is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland founded on 7 December 2007, as an anti-St Andrews Agreement splinter group from the Democratic Unionist Party . Its first and current leader is Jim Allister who, until 2009, sat as an independent Member of the European...

, and stood for the party in a by-election to Craigavon Borough Council in January 2010, taking a distant second place.