Albert Glenn Barr OBE was one of the most unusual and influential figures to emerge from Northern Ireland’s Troubles. Born in Derry in 1942, Barr began his public life as a trade union activist, but soon became deeply involved in loyalist politics and paramilitarism.

In the early 1970s, he joined the Ulster Defence Association and rose to become Brigadier of the UDA’s North-West Brigade. At the same time, he stepped into mainstream politics through the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party. In 1973, he was elected to the new Northern Ireland Assembly — making him the only UDA member ever to win an elected seat during this era.

Barr became best known for his central role in the 1974 Ulster Workers’ Council strike. Acting as one of its key organisers, he helped bring down the Sunningdale Agreement and the short-lived power-sharing executive. As chairman of the Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee, he even believed that the strike leadership could have formed the basis for a provisional government in an independent Northern Ireland — an idea he strongly supported.

But Barr’s political career was often controversial. He was suspended from the United Ulster Unionist Council for backing a rival candidate, and joined a UDA delegation on a fundraising trip to Libya — a move condemned across unionism. After Vanguard collapsed, he returned to the UDA and worked on the New Ulster Political Research Group, helping to create Beyond the Religious Divide, a document setting out a vision for an independent Northern Ireland.

Disillusioned with unionist politics, Barr left public life in the early 1980s and dedicated himself to community projects in Derry, especially youth employment schemes. He re-emerged briefly in the 1990s, including a short and controversial appointment to the Parades Commission, before stepping back again.

Until his death in 2017, Glenn Barr focused on cross-community work, youth training, and reconciliation projects. Though a divisive figure, he was also widely recognised for his later efforts to bridge historic divides. He was married to Isa and had four children.