David Burnside
| David Burnside | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Antrim |
|
|
In office 26 November 2003 – 1 June 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Duncan Shipley-Dalton |
| Succeeded by | Danny Kinahan |
| Member of Parliament for South Antrim |
|
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In office 7 June 2001 – 5 May 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | William McCrea |
| Succeeded by | William McCrea |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
David Wilson Boyd Burnside 24 August 1951 Ballymoney, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
| Profession | Businessman |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Unit | Ulster Defence Regiment |
David Wilson Boyd Burnside (born 24 August 1951) is a Northern Ireland politician, and was Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for South Antrim.
In the 1970s Burnside served as Press Officer for the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, and he unsuccessfully contested North Antrim for the party at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election. After the collapse of Vanguard he joined the Ulster Unionist Party, standing unsuccessfully in the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly but then took a back seat from politics for many years while working as a prominent public relations consultant based in London which led him to set up his own PR company. He also served in the Ulster Defence Regiment.
In 1984 David Burnside was recruited by the British Airways Chairman Lord King to become the company's head of public relations. In this role Burnside is widely acknowledged to have become one of the most powerful PR men in Britain, speaking for King, administering a £5,000,000 budget and receiving numerous PR awards both in the UK and around the world.
His success is perhaps overshadowed by the nature of his departure. British Airways was witnessing the emergence of a potentially strong rival, Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic. Virgin, which began with one route and one Boeing 747 in 1984 was beginning to emerge as a serious threat on some of BA's most lucrative routes.
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