John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice

John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice ( born March 28, 1955 in Ballymena ) is a Northern Irish politician.

Life and career

He was speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 to 2004 and leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and sits on the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat.

Alderdice was born as the son of the Rev. David Alderdice and Annie Margaret Helena Shields He attended the Ballymena Academy and the Queen's University of Belfast ( QUB ). In 1977 he married Joan Hill, with whom he has two sons and a daughter. He worked as a consultant psychiatrist since 1988. He also taught at Queen 's University 's Faculty of Medicine.

The Alliance Party was founded in 1970 as an alternative to champagne policy. Alderdice was their leader before the 1987 general election, and stood in for Belfast East. He received 32.0 % of the vote, the highest percentage that was ever achieved by his party in a Westminster election. Although he lost to Peter Robinson, but was able to establish the Alliance.

He was elected in 1998 to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East and its first speaker until 2004. However, was the "Assembly" was suspended most of the time.

Alderdice was raised in 1996 for Life Peer. In the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat he sits. He was elected President of the Liberal International in 2005.

• Member of the House of Lords
• Politicians (Northern Ireland)
• Liberal Democrats Member
• Life peer
• Briton
• Northern Irishman
• Born in 1955
• Man
• Politicians ( 20th century)
• Politicians ( 21st century)