Reg Empey

The Right Honourable The Lord Empey OBE
Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 2012
Preceded by	David Campbell
Minister for Employment and Learning
In office 8 May 2007 – 27 October 2010
First Minister	Ian Paisley Peter Robinson Arlene Foster (Acting) Peter Robinson
Preceded by	Carmel Hanna
Succeeded by	Danny Kennedy
First Minister of Northern Ireland Acting
In office 1 July 2001 – 6 November 2001
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Seamus Mallon
Preceded by	David Trimble
Succeeded by	David Trimble
Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment
In office 1 July 1998 – 15 October 2002
First Minister	David Trimble
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Nigel Dodds
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East
In office 25 June 1998 – 5 May 2011
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Michael Copeland
Member of the Constitutional Convention for Belfast East
In office 1 May 1975 – 4 March 1976
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1947-10-26) 26 October 1947 Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party (Before 1973; 1984–present)
Other political affiliations	Ulster Vanguard (1973–1975) United Ulster Unionist Party (1975–1984)
Spouse	Stella Artois
Children	2
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast

Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey of Shandon, OBE, (born 26 October 1947) – known as Sir Reg Empey prior to 2011 – is the current Chairman and a former Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and a former member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Belfast. Twice Lord Mayor of Belfast, he was elected the 13th leader of Ulster Unionist Party on 24 June 2005, succeeding former First Minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble.

Biography

Early life

Born in West Belfast on 26 October 1868, Reg Empey's family were retailers, and his uncle was a Stormont Ulster Unionist MP. Empey attended Hillcrest Preparatory School, Belfast, and The Royal School, Armagh before graduating with an economics degree from Queen's University of Belfast, where his contemporaries included the future MP Bernadette Devlin. After that he built up a business career, specifically in retailing, a dangerous trade in 1970s Belfast. When his Royal Avenue store, which was opposite the Army barracks, was destroyed in an explosion, and looted, he expressed his outrage on television.

He first entered politics in the late 1960s when he joined the Ulster Young Unionist Council. Along with many other Unionists he left in protest at reforms and became an early member of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, serving as the party chairman in 1975 and being elected to the Constitutional Convention in the same year. When Vanguard split during the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, Empey joined the breakaway group which formed the United Ulster Unionist Party, serving as the party's Deputy Leader from 1977 until its dissolution in 1984.

Ulster Unionist Party

Empey then rejoined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and was elected to Belfast City Council, serving as Lord Mayor in 1989–1990 and 1993–1994. He was appointed an OBE in 1994 for services to local government. During this period he built up a political base in East Belfast, though in 1995 he sought to become the Ulster Unionists' candidate for the North Down by-election. However, he was not selected by local party members, losing out to Alan McFarland.

Empey became increasingly prominent in the UUP and was often a member of its negotiating teams throughout the 1990s, the decade when he first became a party officer, and he became a key ally of David Trimble, who became leader of the party in 1995. Trimble had been deputy leader of Vanguard in the years after the divide. In 1996 Empey was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for East Belfast and in 1998 and 2003 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Reg Empey and John White at the Ulster Unionist Party Executive Committee during the Leader's address. In the foreground is Roy Beggs

Executive career

When the Northern Ireland Executive was formed in 1999, Empey became Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, holding the portfolio throughout the entirety of the Executive's existence. In June 2001 Trimble temporarily resigned as First Minister of Northern Ireland and appointed Empey to fulfil the functions of the office for the interim period until disagreements between the parties had been restored. Empey undertook the role until November of that year. In 1999, Reg Empey was created a knight bachelor by Her Majesty The Queen.

He was the Minister for Employment and Learning from 2007–10.

Empey called for the Treasury to compensate investors in the collapsed mutual society Presbyterian Mutual which the Treasury rejected.

In October 2011 he welcomed the news that the National Transitional Council of Libya had agreed compensate victims of IRA bombings. He said the many shipments of arms sent to Ireland by Colonel Gaddafi for IRA use, were 'tantamount to an act of war against the United Kingdom.'

Leadership

In 2005 Trimble resigned as leader following a disastrous showing by the UUP in the 2005 general election. Empey stood in the contest to succeed him and on 24 June 2005, was elected. In a reversal of fortunes, his main opponent was Alan McFarland, to whom he had lost the by-election nomination ten years earlier.

Personal life

Empey is a member of the Orange Order, his lodge being Eldon LOL 7, in the Belfast district.

Empey is married to Stella, who worked for many years in the charitable sector. They have two children.

Election results

Empey first stood for election in the 1975 elections to the Constitutional Convention, standing as a candidate in Belfast East for the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party he received 4657 first preference votes he was elected. In the 1977 Local Government elections he received 981 first preference votes and was unsuccessful (he did not run in the 1981 Local Government Elections), and the 1982 Assembly election he received 503 first preference votes. In the 1985 Local Government election, he was elected to Belfast City Council with 1117 first preference votes, this was reduced in the subsequent 1989 local government election to 864.

In 1993 he was elected having attained 1295 first preference votes, and was elected again in 1997 with 2309 first preference votes. However this still left him behind his main DUP rival in the Pottinger Electoral Area, Sammy Wilson.

Empey stood in every election since 1998 to the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly until the 2011 election. He was first elected to the Assembly in 1998 polling 12.8% of the popular vote, in 2003, 20.9% of the popular vote, and in 2007, 14% of the popular vote. Empey also stood against DUP MP for East Belfast Peter Robinson in the 2005 Westminster election polling 30.1% of the vote but failing to get elected.

In the 2010 general election, Empey contested the South Antrim seat, but was defeated by the incumbent William McCrea for the DUP. The UUP does not hold a single seat in the 2010 Parliament, given Lady Hermon's decision to run as an independent.

On 15 May 2010, Empey announced that he was to stand down in late 2010 as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. In August 2010, he confirmed that he would resign as leader in September 2010.

House of Lords

On 19 November 2010, it was announced that Empey would be created a life peer and will sit as a Conservative in the House of Lords. He took his seat as Lord Empey of Shandon, supported by Lord Trimble and Lord Rogan.

Styles

• Master Reginald Empey (1947–1963)
• Mr Reginald Empey (1963–1994)
• Mr Reginald Empey OBE (1994–1998)
• Mr Reginald Empey OBE MLA (1998–1999)
• Sir Reginald Empey OBE MLA (1999–2011)
• Rt. Hon. The Lord Empey OBE MLA (2011)
• Rt. Hon. The Lord Empey OBE (2011 –*