and David Adams and Progressive Unionist Party leaders Gusty Spence, "Plum" Smith and Jim McDonald, who delivered the statement confirming the cessation. A few days later McMichael, along with Adams, Spence, Joe English, David Ervine and Billy Hutchinson, took part in a tour of the United States where they presented the loyalist case publicly to a number of bodies. McMichael in particular received widespread coverage after he said in a speech to the National Committee on American Foreign Policy that if the Provisional IRA ceasefire proved legitimate then it was imperative for unionist leaders to hold talks with Sinn Féin, something the Ulster Unionist Party and Democratic Unionist Party were refusing to countenance. He was also part of a loyalist delegation to 10 Downing Street in June 1996 aimed at avoiding the possibility of the cancellation of the CLMC ceasefire. McMichael became a high-profile figure due to his involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process and he led the UDP into the Forum in 1996 from which the Belfast Agreement emerged. McMichael became an enthusiastic advocate of the Agreement, although his views were not always shared by the UDA membership as a whole and the party failed to win any seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. McMichael himself stood in Lagan Valley and only failed to capture one of the six seats by a narrow margin. Following the killing of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright in late 1997, McMichael held a personal meeting with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam in which he convinced her that, to avoid a breach of the ceasefire due to the popularity of Wright, they needed to engage with UDA prisoners. Mowlam herself, as well as McMichael, entered HMP Maze to meet with the paramilitary leaders and after extensive negotiations emerged with an undertaking that they would not sanction retaliation. McMichael, whose position was seen as weakened by some more hawkish members due to his own lack of a track record as a paramilitary, was supported in his efforts by Jackie McDonald, a leading figure within the UDA and close ally of John McMichael. However, the guarantee was ignored by the UDA West Belfast Brigade, with Stephen McKeag carrying out several retaliatory murders in what proved a blow to McMichael's leadership. Sammy Duddy would later admit that UDA activity in the aftermath of Wright's killing was kept from McMichael and McMichael subsequently