He was expelled from the Ulster Unionist Parliamentary Party in January 1972 when he voted for a Democratic Unionist Party censure motion opposing a ban on certain processions planned for The Twelfth.
In January 1972, his membership in the Ulster Unionist Parliamentary Party was terminated after he voted in favor of a Democratic Unionist Party condemnation resolution that opposed a ban on certain parades scheduled to take place during The Twelfth.