Alex Kerr was a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. Kerr was a brigadier in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)'s South Belfast Brigade.<ref name="politico">[http://politico.ie/archive/billy-wright-dying-sword "Billy Wright: Dying by the Sword". Politico. 1 February 1998]. Retrieved 18 February 2015</ref>English, Richard; Townshend, Charles (1999). The State: Historical and Political Dimension.London: Routledge. p.209 He is no longer active in loyalism.
Ulster Defence Association
According to Henry McDonald, Kerr told him he was the son of a County Donegal-born mother whose hobby was Irish dancing, traditionally associated with Irish nationalists. Kerr made his home on the Taughmonagh estate in southwest Belfast.
From this centre of Ulster Defence Association activity, Kerr established his power base as South Belfast brigadier. The position had been held by John McMichael until he was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in 1987. Jackie McDonald was chosen as McMichael's replacement by Andy Tyrie, but he was not trusted by the rest of the leadership and was removed less than a year later following his arrest for extortion, allowing Kerr to become the new brigadier. Kerr was on good terms with West Belfast commander Johnny Adair, and in July 1992 he provided a bolt-hole in Taughmonagh from which Adair and his men were to launch an attack on IRA commander Brian Gillen's Finaghy Road North home. The attack did not take place as the C Company unit had been observed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) leaving the Shankill Road and were all subsequently arrested.
From the time of its establishment in 1971 until August 1992, the UDA was a legal loyalist paramilitary organisation; it was also the largest. In the spring of 1991, a year and a half before its proscription, the UDA aligned with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and its subsidiary group, the Red Hand Commando to establish the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC). This was a group designed to co-ordinate military activity and hold ad hoc'' discussions about political strategy. Liaison officers were appointed to the new body by each of the three groups and Kerr was chosen as the UDA's military representative. Each group also appointed a political liaison officer with Kerr joined by Ray Smallwoods in this function.
In early 1994 the UDA's Inner Council was made up of its six brigadiers – Kerr for South Belfast, Adair for the UDA West Belfast Brigade, Tom Reid for North Belfast, Gary Matthews for East Belfast, Billy McFarland for County Londonderry and north County Antrim, and Joe English for the UDA South East Antrim Brigade. At the time English was attempting to build support for a ceasefire declaration by the CLMC. In this endeavour he was supported by Reid and Matthews but opposed vehemently by Adair. Along with McFarland, Kerr represented a middle group who demonstrated general agreement with English but also expressed sympathy for Adair's position that a recent upturn in UDA activity was winning the struggle against the IRA for them.
For his part Kerr was sympathetic to the adoption of a "doomsday" scenario in which Ireland would be repartitioned, with Catholics sent west of the River Bann and possibly also to an enclave in West Belfast, with both areas given over to the Republic of Ireland. The remainder of Northern Ireland would become an autonomous region within the United Kingdom.
Split from the UDA
Kerr lost faith in the Northern Ireland peace process following the 1995 publication of the Frameworks document that preceded the Belfast Agreement, as he saw this document as bringing about a united Ireland by stealth. Kerr became strongly disenchanted with the strategy of the Ulster Democratic Party and argued that they, and their UVF-linked allies in the Progressive Unionist Party, were simply being used by the British government to get Sinn Féin into a devolved government.
Seeking to begin an internal campaign against the agreement Kerr initially targeted the UDP, having supporters write "Ulster Drugs Party" on the walls of The Village area of Donegall Road, a stronghold of the South Belfast Brigade. Soon Kerr ramped up his approach by giving interviews to the press in which he called for the development of a new strategy opposed to the Frameworks and a possible return to violence. On 2 June 1995 nine UDA prisoners, including Greysteel massacre perpetrators Torrens Knight and Stephen Irwin, came out in support of Kerr and were eventually moved to another wing of the Maze prison under orders from Johnny Adair, who was on remand at the time and was at that point still committed to the UDP's strategy.