Reg Empey
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Sir Reginald Norman Morgan Empey (born on October 26, 1947) is a Northern Ireland politician and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Belfast. He was elected leader of Ulster Unionist Party on June 24, 2005, succeeding former First Minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble.
Empey attended Hillcrest Preparatory School, Belfast, and The Royal School, Armagh before graduating with an Economics degree from the Queen's University of Belfast. After this he built up a successful business career.
He first entered politics in the late 1960s when he joined the Ulster Young Unionist Council. Along with many other Unionists he left in protest at reforms and became an early member of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, serving as the party chairman in 1975 and being elected to the Constitutional Convention in the same year. When Vanguard split during the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, Empey joined the breakaway group who formed the United Ulster Unionist Party, serving as the party's Deputy Leader from 1977 until its dissolution in 1984.
Empey then rejoined the Ulster Unionist Party and was elected to Belfast City Council, serving as Lord Mayor in 1989-1990 and 1993-1994. During this period he built up a political base in East Belfast, though in 1995 he sought to become the Ulster Unionists' candidate for the North Down by-election. However, he was not selected by local party members, losing out to Alan McFarland.
Empey became increasingly prominent in the UUP and was often a member of its negotiating teams throughout the 1990s, the decade when he first became a party officer, and he became a key ally of David Trimble, who became leader of the party in 1995. Trimble had been deputy leader of Vanguard in the years after the divide. In 1996 Empey was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for East Belfast and in 1998 and 2003 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
When the Northern Ireland Executive was formed in 1999, Empey became Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, holding the portfolio throughout the entirety of the Executive's existence. In June 2001 Trimble temporarily resigned as First Minister of Northern Ireland and appointed Empey to fulfil the functions of the office for the interim period until disagreements between the parties had been restored. Empey undertook the role until November of that year. In 1999, Reg Empey was knighted by the Queen.
In 2005 Trimble resigned as leader following a disastrous showing by the UUP in the 2005 general election. Empey stood in the contest to succeed him and on June 24, 2005, was elected. In a reversal of fortunes, his main opponent was Alan McFarland, to whom he had lost the by-election nomination ten years earlier.
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| Preceded by: David Trimble |
First Minister of Northern Ireland 2001 (acting) |
Succeeded by: David Trimble |
| Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party 2005– |
Succeeded by: Current Incumbent |
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| Preceded by: ???? |
Lord Mayor of Belfast 1989 — 1990 |
Succeeded by: ???? |
| Preceded by: ???? |
Lord Mayor of Belfast 1993 — 1994 |
Succeeded by: Hugh Smyth |
| Party leaders in Northern Ireland |  |
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Rev Dr IAN PAISLEY, MP, MLA (Democratic Unionist Party) | GERRY ADAMS, MP, MLA (Sinn Féin) | Sir REG EMPEY, MLA (Ulster Unionist Party) | MARK DURKAN, MP, MLA (SDLP) | DAVID FORD, MLA (Alliance Party of Northern Ireland) |
