Jim Nicholson (UK politician)

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Jim Nicholson

Incumbent
Assumed office 1989
Preceded by	Ian Paisley, John Hume & John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Constituency	Northern Ireland (MEP)

Born	January 29, 1945 (age 62) Armagh, Northern Ireland
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party

James Frederick "Jim" Nicholson (b. January 29, 1945, Armagh) is a Northern Ireland unionist politician and Member of the European Parliament.

He was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry and Armagh in 1983 and, along with all other unionist MPs, resigned from the House of Commons in 1985 in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement of that year and to secure a renewed mandate from their electors.

Mr Nicholson, who was defending the Nationalist-majority Newry & Armagh constituency, was the only one 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 election but demographics in the area had shifted against Unionism and Nationalist candidates have held it ever since. The seat is currently held by Conor Murphy of Sinn Fein.

In 1989, he became a Member of the European Parliament for Northern Ireland. He retained this seat in 1994, 1999 and 2004 although never reaching a quota of 1st preference votes, on each occasion being re-elected with the help of transfers from other candidates, under Northern Ireland's EU election system of proportional representation.

His 2004 result was the lowest ever polled by the Ulster Unionist Party in any Province-wide election. Despite this, transfers from other candidates (principally Jim Allister) enabled his election over the nationalist SDLP candidate for the final seat, which had previously been held by John Hume.

Mr Nicholson is a member of the European People's Party - European Democrats group, the largest group in the Parliament, which also contains the UK's Conservative MEPs. He is also one of six Quaestors in the European Parliament: he was elected on July 21, 2004, becoming the first ever MEP from Northern Ireland to hold such a senior position, and re-elected in 2007.

Northern Ireland's other MEPs are Bairbre de Brún of Sinn Fein and Jim Allister formerly of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Ms. de Brún sits with the small European United Left–Nordic Green Left group, whilst Mr Allister sits as a Non-attached Member of the Parliament.

Jim Nicholson is the father of seven children.