in violence. Wilson said "it now seems that the Northern Ireland office has enlisted not only the RUC but the transport industry in its offensive against the Unionist population. Such a move can place Ulsterbus vehicles and drivers in an extremely vulnerable position." In August 1986, while Lord Mayor of Belfast, Wilson said his party had no difficulty in working alongside the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The following day Social Democratic and Labour Party MP Seamus Mallon accused Wilson of supporting random killings, intimidations and "other outrages". Wilson stood in East Belfast at the 1982 Assembly election but was not elected. In June 1991, during a heated council meeting where Nigel Dodds was installed as mayor, Wilson congratulated those who had "rid Ireland over the last month of those who have politically or militarily supported [the IRA]", referring to the death of three IRA men in an SAS ambush in County Tyrone and the assassination of Sinn Féin councillor Eddie Fullerton by the UDA. He first contested a seat for Parliament in 1992, when he stood for Strangford, but came second with 23% of the vote. In September 1993 the day after the UDA (under its "Ulster Freedom Fighters" cover name) claimed responsibility for firebomb attacks on several Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) premises, Wilson described the GAA as "the IRA at play". Wilson chaired a rally in Ulster Hall in November 1986 declaring the founding of a new loyalist paramilitary group, Ulster Resistance. The event was addressed by DUP party colleagues Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson and Ivan Foster. After a large arms cache linked to Ulster Resistance was discovered in County Armagh in November 1988, Wilson told the Sunday Tribune that he "[defended] the right of Unionist people to resist" and "Ulster Resistance are doing no more and no less than Lord Edward Carson." Wilson refused to say when he had last been in contact with Ulster Resistance. In September 1988 Sammy Wilson was named in a Canadian court as having hosted Canada-based gunrunners in Belfast City Hall in October 1986 when he was Lord Mayor. It was also claimed that in Wilson's City Hall sitting room the Canadian arms traffickers met two prominent loyalist paramilitary figures. Wilson left the room shortly before the loyalists entered and was absent for this second meeting. One of the Canadians, Howard Wright, was convicted of illegally exporting firearms to the Ulster Volunteer