 Baird became the leader of the new grouping, which initially pursued a policy of uniting all unionist groups to form a new party.When this proved impossible, it instead constituted itself as the United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP), again with Baird as the leader.He then became a key member of the United Unionist Action Council

Baird stood for the UUUP in Fermanagh and South Tyrone at the 1979 general election, but won only 17% of the vote, taking fourth position in the poll.