Jim Nicholson (UK politician)
|
Jim Nicholson MEP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland |
|
|
Assumed office 15 June 1989 |
|
| Preceded by | John Taylor |
| Member of Parliament for Newry and Armagh |
|
|
In office 9 June 1983 – 17 December 1985 |
|
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Seamus Mallon |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
29 January 1945 Armagh, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Gibson (m. 1968-2015; her death) |
| Children | 7 |
| Profession | Farmer |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Website | Official Website |
James Frederick Nicholson (born 29 January 1945) is a Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politician, who is currently a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Nicholson was born in 1945 in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Educated locally, he later worked as a farmer on the family farm. He joined the Ulster Unionist Party in the early 1970s and was the Secretary/Organiser of Mid-South Armagh Unionist Association from 1973 to 1983. He was elected to his first public office in 1976 as a member of Armagh council; he served until 1997 and was chairman of the council in 1994–95.
Nicholson was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry and Armagh in the 1983 general election for the UUP. At Westminster, he served on the Agriculture Select Committee. Along with all other unionist MPs, he resigned from the House of Commons in December 1985 as part of a wider protest against the Anglo-Irish Agreement of that year and to secure a renewed mandate from their electors. A by-election to fill his seat took place in January 1986.
Nicholson, who was defending the nationalist-majority Newry and Armagh constituency in the by-election, was the only resigning MP not to re-win his seat, losing it to Seamus Mallon of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the by-election. He contested the seat again at the 1987 general election but demographics in the area had shifted against unionism; nationalist and republican candidates have held it ever since.
...
Wikipedia