Kirkham entered politics in 1989 when he was elected to Newtownabbey Borough Council as a DUP councillor representing the Antrim Line district electoral area.
[6] He is registered as the leader of the Ulster Protestant League, although it is unclear whether or not this organisation exists beyond Kirkham, who is labelled as an Independent Unionist in Newtownabbey.
[10] As part of this three-man group he met with Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2004, along with UDA leader Jackie McDonald and prisoners' spokesman Stanley Fletcher, in a meeting he described as 'historic, productive and amicable'.
[12] During the internal struggles within the UDA in late 2002 with regards to the attempts to expel Johnny Adair, Kirkham followed the orthodox anti-Adair line as espoused by his close friend John 'Grug' Gregg.
[13] He remained an important spokesman for the UPRG, particularly following the removal of Johnny Adair in early 2003, and in February of that year it was Kirkham who was chosen to read a statement from the UDA leadership in which they announced an indefinite extension to their ceasefire.
The UDA faced a potential feud over the activities of renegade brigadier Andre Shoukri, who was, ironically given Kirkham's previous position, an associate of Johnny Adair, until the movement expelled him in 2007.