[3] Around this time Barr also became involved in politics by joining the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VPUP) and was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which had been set up under the Sunningdale Agreement, in 1973.

Barr claimed when he returned that Gaddafi, who at the time was funding the Provisional IRA, had expressed a firm interest in providing money for an independent Northern Ireland.

Whilst there, Barr took a leading role in the production of Beyond the Religious Divide, a document which sought to set out a framework for a move towards eventual independence for Northern Ireland.

"[13] Barr was also chosen to break the self-imposed media blackout adopted by the NUPRG in late 1978 when he gave an interview to the Irish political magazine Magill during which he put forward the case for independence.

[14] The UDA, however, failed to recommend the proposals to its members and, as a result, Barr drifted away from the NUPRG, leaving politics altogether in 1981 to return to community work in Derry.

[15] Barr briefly emerged from his political retirement in 1994 when he joined his old friend from the strike Andy Tyrie in heading up an initiative to gain funding for the Ulster Democratic Party.

[16] He appeared set for a more active return in 1998 when he took up a seat on the Parades Commission, a move roundly condemned by nationalists, given Barr's UDA past, and one that saw resignations from the board in protest.

[17] Ultimately, however, Barr himself resigned on 24 April 1998, along with loyalist Tommy Cheevers not long after the Commission had banned an Apprentice Boys parade from the nationalist lower Ormeau Road.