Reg Empey, Baron Empey

Reg Empey, Baron Empey, 2013

Reginald "Reg" Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey Kt OBE (* 26. October 1947 in Belfast ) is a British politician of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the 2001 interim basis for several months First Minister of Northern Ireland and between 2005 and 2010 leader of the UUP was and has been a Life Peer member of the House of Lords since 2011 .

Life

Two-time Lord Mayor of Belfast

Empey began in the mid-1980s his involvement in local politics of Northern Ireland and was from 1985 to 2010 a member of the city council of Belfast ( Belfast City Council ). After he was Lord Mayor ( Lord Mayor ) of Belfast for the first time from 1989 to 1990 , he was part of the 1991 Ulster Unionist Party negotiating team at the Brooke Mayhew Talks to end the Northern Ireland conflict . He was then a member of the Police Authority of Northern Ireland from 1992 to 2001 .

Empey was again Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1993 to 1994 and then between 1996 and 2004 Vice President of the Ulster Unionist Council, the council of the UUP. In this capacity he participated in the Castle Buildings talks between 1996 and 1998 for the final settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict. In the meantime, he from 1994 to 2002, a member of the EU - Committee of the Regions .

Unsuccessful House of Commons nominations and acting First Minister of Northern Ireland

In the general election on May 1, 1997 Empey ran for the Ulster Unionist Party in the constituency of Belfast East for the first time unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons . After the conflict in Northern Ireland was settled, he was elected for the first time as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly , the Parliament of Northern Ireland, for the UUP on June 25, 1998 . After his re-elections on November 26, 2003 and March 7, 2007, he represented the constituency of Belfast East until he resigned in January 2011 .

In 1999 Empey, who was beaten to a Knight Bachelor degree in the same year and henceforth had the suffix "Sir", was appointed Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the Government of Northern Ireland by First Minister David Trimble and held this position until 2002. As his successor On July 1, 2001, he was appointed First Minister himself and held this office until he was replaced by Trimble on November 1, 2001.

After leaving the Northern Irish government, he first became Trimble's deputy as UUP party leader in 2003, before he was UUP party leader himself as its successor between 2005 and 2010. As such, he ran for the UUP again without success in the general election on May 5, 2005 in the constituency of Belfast East again without success for a seat in the House of Commons.

In 2007, Empey, who was also named Officer of the Order of the British Empire , was reappointed to the Government of Northern Ireland as Minister for Employment and Education by then First Minister of Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley , and held this position under Paisley's successor Peter Robinson until 2010 out. In the British general election on May 6, 2010 , he ran for the last time for a mandate in the House of Commons, but this time again suffered an electoral defeat for the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists in the constituency of South Antrim and thus once again missed entry into the House of Commons. After his resignation as party leader of the UUP, Tom Elliott was elected on September 22, 2010 as his successor in this office.

House of Lords

After retiring from the Northern Ireland Assembly, Empey was raised to the nobility by a letters patent dated January 15, 2011 as a life peer with the title Baron Empey , of Shandon in the City and County Borough of Belfast . Shortly thereafter took place 19 January 2011 on its introduction ( Introduction ) as a member of the House of Lords .

In April 2012, Lord Empey succeeded David Campbell as chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party.

Web links

• Entry on Parliament's homepage (accessed on November 3, 2012)
• Entry in They Work For You (accessed November 3, 2012)
• Entry in They Work For You (accessed November 3, 2012)
• Biography in Debrett’s (accessed on November 3, 2012)