[5] In the early 1980s, Calvert was Deputy Chairman of the DUP,[6] and in the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he won a seat.
[5] In 1987, he was seriously injured in an assassination attempt on his life by the Irish National Liberation Army, but recovered fully.
[9] Calvert stood as an independent candidate in Craigavon at the 2001 local elections, and narrowly missed taking a seat.
[10] In 2006, he attended a meeting of critics of the Belfast Agreement, addressed by Robert McCartney of the UK Unionist Party,[9] but at the 2007 Assembly election he stood as an independent again, this time in Upper Bann, taking 3.1% of the vote.
[11] Following the elections, Calvert joined Traditional Unionist Voice, and stood for the party in a by-election to Craigavon Borough Council in January 2010, taking a distant second place.