Nigel Dodds

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Nigel Dodds MP MLA
DUP Chief Whip
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Constituency	Belfast North (MP & MLA)
Born	August 20, 1958 (age 48) Derry, Northern Ireland
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Website	http://www.dup.org.uk/NigelDodds.asp

Nigel Alexander Dodds, OBE (born Derry, August 20, 1958) is a barrister and Northern Ireland unionist politician. He is a Member of the British Parliament for Belfast North, and a member of the Democratic Unionist Party. He has been Lord Mayor of Belfast twice, and from 1993 has been General Secretary of the DUP. Dodds became North Belfast's MP in the 2001 UK general elections. He is also a member of the currently-suspended Northern Ireland Assembly, and had been Minister for Social Development in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive.

Contents 1 Background 2 Politics 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Background

Nigel Dodds was born in Derry and was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh (whose other famous alumni include Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett) and St John's College, Cambridge (First class law MA). Upon graduation, he returned to Northern Ireland and after studying at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's University, Belfast (CPLS) was called to the Northern Irish bar ([1]).

His family were heavily involved in the Orange Order and unionist politics; his father, Joe, is a long standing DUP member of Fermanagh District Council.

Nigel Dodds is married (to Diane Dodds); they have one son and one daughter, and live in a rural area outside Banbridge in County Down.

[edit] Politics

Dodds entered municipal politics in 1981 when he stood unsuccessfully for the Enniskillen part of Fermanagh District Council. Four years later in 1985, he was elected to Belfast City Council for the religiously and socially mixed Castle electoral area in the north of the city.

Dodds, soon rose to prominence in the party. He was elected for two one-year terms as Lord Mayor of Belfast (an honorary position) in June 1988 and June 1992. The same year, he stood unsuccessfully for the East Antrim constituency in the Westminster election. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 and topped the poll in North Belfast in both sets of elections to the reconstituted Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 and 2003. Dodds was awarded the OBE in 1997.

The troubled and fragmented constituency of North Belfast, with its kaleidoscope of rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant areas, had historically been strong territory for the DUP, with Johnny McQuade representing the constituency in the British House of Commons from 1979-1983. However, the DUP had stood down in favour of the Ulster Unionist Party in Westminster elections in the late 1980s and 1990s, in order to avoid splitting the unionist vote. However, in 2001, Dodds challenged sitting Ulster Unionist Party MP Cecil Walker, despite the dangers of losing the mixed constituency to a nationalist. However, Dodds won just over 40% of the vote, and a comfortable 6,387 majority over Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly, with Walker being pushed into fourth place.

Dodds was Minister of Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 21 November 1999 but resigned on 27 July 2000, then served again from 24 October 2001, when the devolved institutions were restored, until resigning on 11 October 2002, shortly before the executive and the Assembly were collapsed by the Ulster Unionist Party.

Dodds was perceived as a quietly effective Minister, carrying out important reforms on the control of public sector housing, but was dogged by allegations that formulae allocating funding to deprived areas were favouring Protestant areas^{[citation needed]}. Not only was Dodds Minister for Social Development, but an unprecedented four of his five Assembly colleagues from North Belfast sat on the relevant Assembly committee^{[citation needed]}.

In December 1996, Dodds was visiting his sick son in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast when a group of IRA gunmen ambushed him in the corridors. Although nobody was killed in the incident, Dodds' police bodyguard was injured. ^[1] The nature of the attack disgusted many, even in republican circles^{[citation needed]}.

In 2001 Dodds became involved in negotiations to end the Holy Cross dispute which falls within his constituency.

Due to his relaxed and relatively less histrionic style of speaking, Dodds is a less controversial figure among nationalists than colleagues Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson^{[citation needed]}.

Although DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson remains favourite to succeed Ian Paisley as leader of the DUP, Dodds is increasingly mentioned in despatches as a serious contender for the post^{[citation needed]}. His intellectual capacity and standard of education are unparalleled within the DUP, and he also manages to bridge the urban, secular, working-class and rural, evangelical wings of the Party.

[edit] External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Nigel Dodds MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Nigel Dodds MP

[edit] References

1. ^ The Stormont ministers — BBC News, 29 May 2000

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Cecil Walker	Member of Parliament for Belfast North 2001 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by John J. D. Gilmore	Lord Mayor of Belfast 1988-1989	Succeeded by Reg Empey
Preceded by Fred Cobain	Lord Mayor of Belfast 1991-1992	Succeeded by Herbert Ditty