The Lord Alderdice | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| President of Liberal International | |
| In office 25 April 2005 – 20 April 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck |
| Succeeded by | Hans van Baalen |
| 1st Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
| In office 1 July 1998 – 29 February 2004 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| First Minister | First Ministers (1998–2002) David Trimble Reg Empey(Acting) David Trimble Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland (2002–2004) John Reid Paul Murphy |
| Deputy | Sir John Gorman Donovan McClelland Jane Morrice Jim Wilson |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Eileen Bell |
| Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | |
| In office 1987–1998 | |
| Deputy | Gordon Mawhinney Seamus Close |
| General Secretary | Eileen Bell David Ford |
| Preceded by | John Cushnahan |
| Succeeded by | Seán Neeson |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly forBelfast East | |
| In office 25 June 1998 – 26 November 2003 | |
| Preceded by | New creation |
| Succeeded by | Naomi Long |
| Member of Belfast City Council | |
| In office 17 May 1989 – 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Oliver Napier |
| Succeeded by | David Alderdice |
| Constituency | Victoria |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Assumed office 5 November 1996 as alife peer | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Thomas Alderdice (1955-03-28)28 March 1955 (age 70) |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Other political affiliations | Alliance |
| Spouse(s) | Joan Hill, Lady Alderdice |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
John Thomas Alderdice, Baron Alderdice (born 28 March 1955[1]), is aNorthern Ireland politician. He was the Speaker and aMember of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) forEast Belfast from 1998 to 2004 and 1998 to 2003, respectively. Alderdice was the leader of theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland from 1987 to 1998, and since 1996 has sat in theHouse of Lords as aLiberal Democrat.[1]
Alderdice was born to David Alderdice and Annie Margaret Helena Shields. He was educated atBallymena Academy and theQueen's University Belfast (QUB) where he studied medicine and qualified in 1978. In 1977 he married Joan Hill, with whom he has two sons and one daughter.[2] He worked part-time as a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in theNHS from 1988 until he retired from psychiatric practice in 2010.[3][4] He also lectured at Queen's University's Faculty of Medicine between 1991 and 1999.[3]
Alderdice claims a distant relationship toJohn King, a 19th-century Australian explorer and the sole survivor of theBurke and Wills expedition.[5] He is the older brother ofDavid Alderdice.
The Alliance Party was formed in 1970 as an alternative tosectarian politics.[6] Alderdice was on the executive committee of the party between 1984 and 1998, chair of the policy committee between 1985 and 1987 and the party vice-chair in 1987, before becoming the party leader after the1987 general election. He contestedBelfast East for the party in 1987 and 1992.[1] He received 32.1% of the vote in 1987,[7] the highest percentage achieved by Alliance in an individual seat in aWestminster election untilNaomi Long's historic victory for the party in Belfast East in the 2010 general election.[8] In 1988, in Alliance's keynote post-Anglo Irish Agreement document, "Governing with Consent", Alderdice called for a devolved power-sharing government based on a voluntary coalition elected by a qualified majority vote. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Alliance's vote across Northern Ireland stabilised at between 6% and 8%.[6]
Alderdice once again contestedBelfast East in the1992 general election.[7] He led the Alliance delegation to theForum for Peace and Reconciliation atDublin Castle and the Northern Ireland multiparty talks, and was a member of theNorthern Ireland Forum.[3]
Alderdice was willing to talk withSinn Féin after theIRA called a ceasefire in 1994, when many in the unionist community regarded such discussions as unacceptable.[9]
He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East in 1998 and became the assembly's first speaker, serving until 2004.Mo Mowlam said that Alderdice's "political and parliamentary experience mean that he is well suited to carry out this role".[10] Alderdice was a member ofBelfast City Council from 1989 until 1997 representing theVictoria constituency.[4] He resigned as party leader in 1998 to take the position of Speaker.[3] He was a member of theIndependent Monitoring Commission from 2004 to 2011.[11]
Alderdice was created alife peer on 8 October 1996 asBaron Alderdice, ofKnock in theCity of Belfast,[2][12] and was one of the youngest ever life peers.[3] He sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat. On 10 June 2010, he was elected to the new position of convenor of the Liberal Democrat peers, a role in which he chairs the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party in the House of Lords.[4]
He was elected president ofLiberal International in 2005 and served until Liberal International's Cairo congress in 2009. He was succeeded by Dutch politicianHans van Baalen.[13]
Alderdice has been awarded several honours: the John F Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award in 1998; theW. Averell Harriman Democracy Award in 1998; the Silver Medal of Congress of Peru in 1999 and 2004; the Medal of Honour, College of Medicine of Peru in 1999; and the Freedom of the City of Baltimore in 1991.[14] He was an elder in thePresbyterian Church in Ireland,[11] but resigned in June 2018 due to the church's opposition to same-sex relationships.[15]
In 2001, he was made an honorary fellow of theRoyal College of Psychiatrists[3] and has also been awarded an honorary doctorate in law fromRobert Gordon University.[16]
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| Northern Ireland Forum | ||
|---|---|---|
| New forum | Member forEast Belfast 1996–1998 | Forum dissolved |
| Northern Ireland Assembly | ||
| New assembly | MLA forBelfast East 1998–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Alliance Party (NI) 1987–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of theLiberal International 2005–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| New office | Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1998–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Alderdice | Followed by |
| National | |
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| People | |
