Joe Hendron

Joe Hendron
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast West
In office 25 June 1998 – 26 November 2003
Preceded by	New Creation
Succeeded by	Diane Dodds
Member of Parliament for Belfast West
In office 9 April 1992 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Gerry Adams
Succeeded by	Gerry Adams
Personal details
Born	(1932-11-12) 12 November 1932
Political party	Social Democratic and Labour Party

Joseph Gerard (Joe) Hendron (born 12 November 1932) is a Northern Ireland politician, a member of the moderate Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

He became the only nationalist MP to successfully defeat Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams in 1992 following in the tradition of former SDLP MP for the area, [Gerry Fitt], later Lord Fitt.

Hendron, also a local GP physician for 40 years, was first elected as a political representative of Belfast West in 1975 to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, and in 1981 as an SDLP member of Belfast City Council for the area and in 1982 to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Hendron was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast West between April 1992 and May 1997 in the British Parliament in London. He had taken the seat from Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, at his third attempt, with a majority of 1%. He attracted unprecedented cross-community support from both Nationalists and Loyalists in the constituency.

Adams regained the seat at the next election in May 1997 due to boundary changes favouring his Sinn Fein party which brought the Poleglass and Twinbrook electoral ares into West Belfast parliamentary seat. Doctor Joe Hendron, along with his SDLP predecessor (and former party leader) Gerry Fitt, remains one of the few politicians in Northern Ireland who proved capable of crossing the sectarian divide in terms of electoral support.

In 1996 Hendron was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum and in 1998 to the newly reconvened Northern Ireland Assembly. However he lost his seat in the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election to a member of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party.

He was appointed a member of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission. Dr Hendron retired in December 2010 from this body

External links

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Bibliography

• Maiden Speech : House of Commons - 18 June 1992