Paul Berry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the stop motion animator, see Paul Berry (animator).
Paul Berry, (born June 3, 1976) is a Northern Ireland unionist politician. He is a member of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly, sitting for the Newry and Armagh constituency. Elected on the Democratic Unionist Party ticket, he resigned from the party on February 10, 2006 following allegations about his private life.
Paul Berry was born in Craigavon, County Armagh, and was brought up in Tandragee, where he was educated at local state schools and colleges, following which he was employed in the textile industry. He joined the DUP at the age of 16, the same age at which he began Gospel singing in churches in the North Armagh and Banbridge areas.
In part based on his profile as a singer, he was selected to fight the first Northern Ireland Assembly election in 1998, and was successfully returned as the youngest member of that body. He was elected to Armagh City and District Council in 2001, and re-elected to both bodies in the 2003 and 2005 elections respectively. An active member of the Orange Order, he is on the traditionalist, fundamentalist wing of the DUP.
On May 1, 2005, Berry appeared on the front page of the tabloid Sunday World newspaper, which claimed that Berry had been caught in a sting operation by the newspaper when he met in a Belfast hotel room booked under a false name a gay man he had met in a chatroom. According to the paper, Berry asked the man upon meeting him: "I hope you're a Prod?" Berry denied the allegations, claiming that he was seeking treatment for a sports injury, and is considering legal action. In the 2005 general election five days later Berry was the DUP candidate for Newry and Armagh but was one of the only DUP candidates to experience a fall in their share of the vote in favour of the Ulster Unionist Party while everywhere else in the region the DUP gained at the expense of its main rival. The DUP were to the forefront in the campaign of the 1970s and 1980s to stop the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the region, campaigning under the slogan "Save Ulster from Sodomy". On July 4, 2005 it was announced that Berry had been suspended from the DUP following an internal disciplinary panel meeting.
Berry took legal action against the DUP leadership in a bid to stop disciplinary action but, on February 10, 2006, he announced his resignation from the DUP. He agreed to pay £3,000 towards his legal costs.
Berry continues to sing Gospel professionally, and has released three compilations. He is married to Lorna with no children.
