Nigel Dodds

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The Right Honourable
Nigel Dodds
OBE MP
Member of Parliament
for Belfast North
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 June 2001
Preceded by Cecil Walker
Majority 2,224 (6.0%)
Minister of Finance and Personnel
In office
June 2008 – June 2009
Preceded by Peter Robinson
Succeeded by Sammy Wilson
Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment
In office
8 May 2007 – June 2008
Preceded by Sir Reg Empey
Succeeded by Arlene Foster
Minister for Social Development
In office
2001 – October 2002
Preceded by Maurice Morrow
Succeeded by Margaret Ritchie
Minister for Social Development
In office
December 1999 – 2001
Preceded by Office Created
Succeeded by Maurice Morrow
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Belfast North
In office
25 June 1998 – 10 September 2010
Preceded by Office Created
Majority William Humphrey
Personal details
Born (1958-08-20) 20 August 1958
Londonderry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Nationality British
Political party Democratic Unionist Party
Spouse(s) Diane Dodds
Children 2
Alma mater St John's College, Cambridge, Queen's University Belfast
Religion Free Presbyterian
Website Official Site

Nigel Alexander Dodds, OBE, PC, MP, (born 20 August 1958) is a barrister and Northern Irish unionist politician. He is Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast North, and deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. He has been Lord Mayor of Belfast twice, and from 1993 has been General Secretary of the DUP.[1] Since June 2008 he has also been Deputy Leader of the DUP.[2] Dodds became North Belfast's MP in the 2001 UK general elections. He has served in the past as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and as Minister of Finance in the Northern Ireland Executive.

Background

Nigel Dodds was born in Derry, Northern Ireland,[1] and was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh[3] and St John's College, Cambridge (First class law MA) where he won the university scholarship, McMahan studentship and Winfield Prize for Law.[3] Upon graduation, he returned to Northern Ireland and after studying at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's University, Belfast (IPLS) was called to the Northern Irish bar .[4] After working as a barrister he worked at the Secretariat of the European Parliament from 1984 to 1996.[1]

His father Joe, was a long standing DUP member of Fermanagh District Council until his death in 2008.[5] Nigel Dodds is married (to Diane Dodds); they have one son and one daughter, and live in Banbridge, County Down.

Politics

Dodds entered municipal politics in 1981 when he stood unsuccessfully for the Enniskillen part of Fermanagh District Council.[6] 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.[7]

Dodds soon rose to prominence in the party. He was elected for two one-year terms as Lord Mayor of Belfast in June 1988 (when he became the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Belfast aged 29 [8])and June 1992.[3] 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 all three elections to the reconstituted Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, 2003 and 2007.[9] Dodds was awarded the OBE in 1997 for services to Local Government.[3]

He attracted controversy when he and then DUP leader Ian Paisley attended the wake of murdered Ulster Volunteer Force leader John Bingham.[10]

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 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 he was dismissed from office on 11 October 2002, shortly before the executive and the Assembly were collapsed by the Ulster Unionist Party.

Dodds is vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Flag Group [11]

He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor on 9 June 2010.[12]

Dodds was speaking at Westminster as MPs debated the issue of governance in football. The DUP Deputy leader said "action needs to be taken to stop the haemorrhaging of talent from Northern Ireland".[13]

Paramilitary attack

His constituency office was targeted by the Continuity IRA in 2003 when a viable improvised explosive device was left outside the office. The bomb was defused by British Army explosive experts.[14]

Expenses

In April 2009, after a leaked report showing MPs expenses, Dodds had the highest expenses of any MP in Northern Ireland, ranking him 13th highest of all UK MPs.[15][16] In July 2009, all MPs' claimed expenses, since 2004, will be published in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.[17]

12 July 2013 injury

On the Twelfth of July 2013 Orange order parades, Dodds was knocked unconscious at Woodvale Avenue in the Greater Shankill area of North Belfast by a brick thrown by Loyalists rioting against police roadblocks. The violence broke out following the decision by the Parades Commission to bar Orangemen from walking past the Irish Republican Ardoyne area & Unionist Woodvale area.[18][19] Dodds had been expelled from the House of Commons chamber for using unparliamentary language by Speaker John Bercow on the 10 July 2013, after Dodds had refused to withdraw his accusation that the Conservative Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers was being "deliberately deceptive" when answering questions about her powers in respect of what he called the "outrageous" Parades Commission ruling.[20]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office (20 August 1958). "NI Assembly profile". Niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  2. ↑ Angela Balakrishnan and agencies (14 April 2008). "Dodds will be DUP deputy". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Debrett's People of Today
  4. ↑ "Stratagem profile". Stratagem-ni.com. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  5. ↑ DUP profile
  6. ↑ "Fermanagh 1981 election". Ark.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  7. ↑ "Belfast 1985 local election". Ark.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  8. ↑ "BBC profile". BBC News. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  9. ↑ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/anb.htm
  10. ↑ Nuzhound
  11. ↑ UK Parliament - Register of All Party Groups
  12. ↑ "Privy Council appointments, 9 June 2010". Privy Council. Retrieved 26 July 2010. 
  13. ↑ Walker, Stephen. "BBC News - Nigel Dodds calls for talks over football eligibility". BBC News. BBC News. Retrieved 29 August 2012. 
  14. ↑ Bomb defused at MP's office BBC News
  15. ↑ "Dodds' expenses bill NI's highest". BBC News. 1 April 2009. 
  16. ↑ "Nigel Dodds MP, Belfast North, former MLA, Belfast North". TheyWorkForYou.com. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  17. ↑ "MP attendance pay plan abandoned". BBC News. 28 April 2009. 
  18. ↑ Clashes in Belfast following Twelfth of July parades - as it happened
  19. ↑ Police and MP Nigel Dodds injured in Belfast riots
  20. ↑ Nigel Dodds expelled from Commons chamber

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