Jim Allister

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jim Allister QC MEP
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
Preceded by	Ian Paisley, John Hume & Jim Nicholson
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Constituency	Northern Ireland (MEP)

Born	April 2, 1953 (age 53) Crossgar, Northern Ireland
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Ruth Allister
Religion	Free Presbyterian
Website	http://www.jimallister.org

James Hugh "Jim" Allister, QC (born April 2, 1953 in Crossgar, County Down) is a Northern Ireland unionist politician and barrister. He is a former member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and was elected as a member of the European Parliament (succeeding Ian Paisley) in 2004. In the European Parliament, although an avowed Euro-sceptic, he is also a strong supporter of the Common Agricultural Policy.

After attending Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards, Jim Allister graduated with a Bachelor of Law from Queen's University of Belfast, (QUB). In 1974 he unsuccessfully stood for the post of QUB student union president. He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland as a barrister in 1976, where he specialised in criminal law. He was later called to the Senior Bar to be a QC; he 'took silk' in 2001.

Mr Allister joined the DUP at its founding in 1971. He served as a European Parliament assistant to Ian Paisley from 1980 to 1982. In 1982 he was elected as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont and served as the DUP Assembly Chief Whip. He served as the Vice-Chairman of Scrutiny Committee of Department of Finance and Personnel from 1982 to 1986. He was a member of Newtownabbey Borough Council from 1985 to 1987. He subsequently stood as a DUP candidate in Westminster elections and, following a reported disagreement with his party leader Ian Paisley over a unionist voting pact, had not been active in politics since 1987 until he ran for MEP in 2004.

Mr Allister was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The European Parliament website shows that Jim Allister has spoken more times and contributed to more debates than either of Northern Ireland's other two MEPs.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] In 2006 the Euro MP released a book Leading for Ulster: Speaking for Youwhich documents his speeches in Parliament. Speeches to Parliament are but one way of measuring a representative's effectiveness.

On 27 March 2007 he resigned from the DUP because of the party's decision to enter into government with Sinn Fein. It was the second occasion in which he had resigned from the party. As a member of the DUP he was generally perceived as being on the right wing of the party. In the press conference announcing his resignation he stated that he could never accept Sinn Fein in the government of Northern Ireland while the IRA Army Council remained in existence. Prior to his resignation from the party, Mr Allister was widely seen in Northern Ireland as a front-runner to stand for the DUP party leadership.