Steven King is a political commentator and public relations consultant and the former chief political advisor to Nobel laureate David Trimble.
King graduated with a First Class degree in Political Science from Oxford University, subsequently completing a Master of Social Science in Humanities degree at the University of Ulster and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from The Queen's University of Belfast (his PhD thesis focused on Irish constitutional republicanism/Charles Haughey).
King served as political advisor to Nobel Peace Laureate and First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble for six years (1998–2004). He was the Ulster Unionist party negotiator on equality, human rights and cultural issues in the multi-party talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement. At Stormont, he was responsible for political communication strategies, party management issues and drafting position papers. He was also Lord Trimble’s main speechwriter.
In 1996, King began writing a weekly column for the Belfast Telegraph, before transferring to the Irish Examiner in 2005. He left formal politics in 2005 to work in public relations, initially assuming responsibility for dealing with the reputational issues arising from the Office of Fair Trading inquiry into alleged fee-fixing for the Independent Schools Council, before becoming External Relations Director for Policy Exchange (2006–2008), a centre-right think-tank, then, latterly, as a director of APCO Worldwide (2008–2012), the global public affairs and communications firm
King's marriage, in 2005, to Jean-Claude Madrange was publicly denounced by the DUP politician Ian Paisley Jr. [1]
In August 2010, an inquest at St Pancras Court in London found that King's partner, Jean-Claude Madrange, had taken his own life on 8 May. St Pancras Court was told that Mr Madrange was struggling with bipolar disorder and had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose one month earlier. An obituary published in The Times read: "Jean-Claude (suddenly) RIP Baba. "Oh, how great is love! And how little am I!" Steven King, 55 Dean St, W1." (The quotation is taken from Khalil Gibran's poem 'A Lover's Call XXVII'.)
In June 2012, the BBC reported that King was critically ill in a hospital in Delhi, India. Six weeks later, the BBC reported that King remained critically ill in intensive care in Delhi. King was transferred to the UK where he spent nearly 18 months in critical care. He is now recovering in rehabilitation.
The Ulster Unionist Party is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. Having gathered support in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland, during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the party governed 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). Between 1905 and 1972, its peers and MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, in effect functioning as the Northern Irish branch of the Conservative and Unionist Party. This arrangement came to an end in 1972 over disagreements over the Sunningdale Agreement. The two parties have remained institutionally separate ever since.
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley Jr is a British politician. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2010 general election. Previously he was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim from 1998 to 2010. Paisley, who is a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), is the son of the DUP's founder Ian Paisley.
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom,, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It was created as a separate legal entity on 3 May 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The new autonomous Northern Ireland was formed from six of the nine counties of Ulster: four counties with unionist majorities – Antrim, Armagh, Down, and Londonderry – and two counties with slight Irish nationalist majorities – Fermanagh and Tyrone – in the 1918 General Election. The remaining three Ulster counties with larger nationalist majorities were not included. In large part unionists, at least in the north-east, supported its creation while nationalists were opposed.
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC, is a Northern Irish politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was also the Member of Parliament for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005 and the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 1998 to 2007. In 2006, he was made a life peer in the House of Lords and a year later left the UUP to join the Conservative Party.
Unionism in Ireland is a political tradition on the island that professes loyalty to the unifying Crown and constitution of the United Kingdom. The overwhelming sentiment of a once ascendant minority Protestant population, in the decades following Catholic Emancipation (1829) it mobilised to oppose the restoration of an Irish parliament. As "Ulster unionism," in the century since Partition (1921), its commitment has been to the retention within the United Kingdom of the six Ulster counties that constitute Northern Ireland. Within the framework of a peace settlement for Northern Ireland, since 1998 unionists have reconciled to sharing office with Irish nationalists in a devolved administration, while continuing to rely on the connection with Great Britain to secure their cultural and economic interests.
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson is a British politician who is the Democratic Unionist Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley in Northern Ireland. First elected as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate, he is best known for his opposition to UUP leader David Trimble during the Northern Ireland peace process, especially from 1998 to 2003. He is Northern Ireland's longest-serving current MP. Since December 2019 he has been the leader of the DUP in the House of Commons.
Sir Alfred Cecil Walker was an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Belfast from 1983 to 2001.
Upper Bann is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Carla Lockhart of the DUP.
Peter Weir MLA is a Northern Ireland politician with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) serving as Education Minister since 2020, and previously from 2016 to 2017. Weir is the first non-Sinn Féin legislator to head the Department of Education since the department came into existence on 2 December 1999..
Thomas David Simpson is a Democratic Unionist (DUP) politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament for Upper Bann in Northern Ireland. On 6 November 2019 Simpson announced that he would not be standing for re-election in the 2019 general election.
Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey,, best known as Reg Empey, is a British politician who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2005 to 2010, and has been its chairman since 2012. Empey was also twice Lord Mayor of Belfast and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
Arlene Isabel Foster PC is a Northern Irish politician serving as First Minister of Northern Ireland since January 2020, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She has served as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since 2015 and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2003.
George Seawright was a Scottish-born unionist politician in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitary in the Ulster Volunteer Force. He was assassinated by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation in 1987.
Desmond Norman Orr Boal was a unionist politician and barrister from Northern Ireland.
Michael McGimpsey is a former MLA who represented the people of South Belfast at Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Executive for twenty three years.
Jim Wells is a Northern Ireland politician formerly of the Democratic Unionist Party and longest ever serving DUP MLA, formerly Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Wells is one of five Assembly members for South Down. He was a councillor on Down District Council from 2001 to 2011.
Frank Millar is a Northern Irish journalist and former unionist politician.
The Young Unionists, formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council (UYUC), is the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland occurred on 6 May 2010 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,169,184 people were eligible to vote, up 29,191 from the 2005 general election. 57.99% of eligible voters turned out, down 5.5 percentage points from the last general election.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 5 May 2005 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,139,993 people were eligible to vote, down 51,016 from the 2001 general election. 63.49% of eligible voters turned out, down 5.1 percentage points from the last general election.