The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905,emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson,it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland,it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles,during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).
Reginald Norman Morgan Empey,Baron Empey,,best known as Reg Empey,is a Northern Irish politician who served as the acting First Minister of Northern Ireland in 2001. He was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010 and served as chairman of the party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
Thomas Beatty Elliott is a Northern Irish unionist politician,life peer and farmer who was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2010 to 2012,and has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2022,having previously served from 2003 to 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2015 to 2017. He was a soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) from 1982 to 1992 and its successor the Royal Irish Regiment from 1992 to 1999. He backed a Leave vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum. He was appointed to the House of Lords in the 2024 Dissolution Honours on the 4th July 2024.
Robert "Robin" Gray Newton MBE is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 2003 to 2022,and was a junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister from 2009 to 2011.
Michael Copeland is a former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician,who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 2003 to 2007,and then from 2010 to 2015.
Fred Cobain,MBE is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland,serving as a Belfast City Councillor for the Castle DEA since 2019. He was previously an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 1998 until 2011.
Trevor Maxwell Ringland,is a Northern Irish solicitor,former rugby union player and unionist politician. From June 2013 to July 2014,he served as co-chairman of the NI Conservatives. After attending Larne Grammar School,he read law at Queen's University Belfast.
Tom Hamilton is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 2000 to 2003.
Basil McCrea is a former Northern Irish politician. He was the party leader of NI21 from 2013 until it disbanded in 2016. He was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2007 to 2016.
Daniel de Burgh Kinahan is a British army officer and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician,serving as Veterans Commissioner for Northern Ireland since 2020.
Jonathan Fergus Bell is a former Northern Irish unionist politician.
The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011. This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parliament Buildings in Stormont,and ran for a full term.
Claire Sugden is a Northern Irish politician who was the Minister of Justice in the fourth Northern Ireland Executive from May 2016 to March 2017. She is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry,having been co-opted to the position after the death of David McClarty in 2014,and won election to the seat in 2016,2017 and 2022. She is an Independent Unionist,and is considered to be one of the most socially liberal unionist MLAs in the Assembly.
Douglas Ricardo Beattie is a Northern Irish politician and former member of the British Army,who has been leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) since 27 May 2021. He has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann since 2016. He is characterised as a 'progressive' and 'liberal' unionist.
Alastair Patterson is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone between January and May 2016.
Alan Chambers is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly between 2022 and 2024. Chambers has been an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2016. He currently serves as Chairperson of the Assembly's Audit Committee.
Margaret Elizabeth Rosemary Barton is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and former schoolteacher who was a Fermanagh and Omagh Councillor for the Mid Tyrone DEA from 2022 to 2023,having previously represented Erne North from 2014 to 2016. Barton was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2016 to 2022.
Stephen Ronald Aiken is a Northern Irish politician,serving as the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2024.
Robbie Butler is a Northern Irish unionist politician,serving as Deputy Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) since May 2021,and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 2016.
John Stewart is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and businessman who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since 2017. Stewart is Deputy Chairperson of the Assembly's Infrastructure Committee.
United Kingdom
