Tom Elliott (politician)

Tom Elliott MP
Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 May 2015
Preceded by	Michelle Gildernew
Majority	530 (1.0%)
Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
In office 22 September 2010 – 31 March 2012
Deputy	Danny Kennedy John McCallister
Preceded by	Reg Empey
Succeeded by	Mike Nesbitt
Spokesperson for Justice and the Environment
In office 22 September 2010 – 24 June 2015
Preceded by	Reg Empey
Succeeded by	Neil Somerville
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
In office 26 November 2003 – 24 June 2015
Preceded by	Sam Foster
Succeeded by	Neil Somerville
Personal details
Born	Thomas Beatty Elliott (1963-12-11) 11 December 1963 Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Anne
Children	2
Alma mater	College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise
Religion	Anglicanism
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Unit	Royal Irish Regiment Ulster Defence Regiment
Battles/wars	The Troubles

Thomas Beatty Elliott (born 11 December 1963) is a United Kingdom politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2003 to 2015, its Member of Parliament (MP) since 2015 and was the Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2010 to 2012.^[1] He was also a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment from 1982-92.

Education

Elliott was educated at Ballinamallard Primary School and Duke of Westminster High School, Ballinamallard & Kesh. Afterwards, he earned a College Certificate in Agriculture from the Enniskillen College of Agriculture.^[2]

Political

Elliott has been an activist in the Ballinamallard Ward Ulster Unionist committee for many years and is chairman of that committee. He has also been Honorary Secretary of the Fermanagh Divisional Unionist Association since 1998 and was chairman of the internal Ulster Unionist ad-hoc Review Group for its duration.^[2]

Elliott was the election agent for James Cooper in 2001 Westminster campaign and in June of the same year was elected an Ulster Unionist Councillor on Fermanagh District Council representing Erne North. He was re-elected May 2005 but resigned to allow a Co-option in August 2010. In November 2003 he was elected as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly representing Fermanagh & South Tyrone, a position to which he was re-elected in March 2007 and May 2011. In this role he served as Ulster Unionist Assembly spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Elliott was selected as the UUP candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone UK Parliament constituency in the 2005 general election and came in third behind the Sinn Féin and DUP candidates. The UUP share of the vote fell from 34% in 2001 to 18% in 2005. He was selected again for the 2010 general election, but stood down in favour of independent Unionist candidate Rodney Connor. With the DUP, TUV, UKIP and the Conservatives not contesting the seat in 2015 Elliott, as the sole unionist candidate, won the seat at the 2015 election.

Party leadership

In June 2010, Elliott announced his intention to run in the Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2010.^[3] He was elected although not without some controversy. It emerged shortly before the leadership election that a quarter of the UUP membership came from Fermanagh and South Tyrone, a disproportionately high figure.^[4] The Irish political magazine, the Phoenix, described Elliott as a "blast from the past" and that his election signified "a significant shift to the right" by the UUP.^[5]

In March 2012, Elliot announced that he would quit as leader of the Ulster Unionists.^[6] When asked about his reasoning, he said that "some people have not given [him] a fair opportunity at developing and progressing many initiatives", going on to say that some of the hostility began immediately after he was selected as leader. He also accused some party members of making his job more difficult by briefing journalists.^[7] His resignation triggered the 2012 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election.^[8]

When Elliott took over the leadership of the UUP in 2010 the party had recently received 102,361 votes which amounted to 15.2% of the vote. ^[9] In Elliott's first election in charge in the 2011 Assembly elections the UUP only received 87,531 votes which amounted to 13.2% of the vote and resulted in the party losing two of its MLAs. ^[10] On the same day in 2011 the UUP lost 16 of its Council seats also. ^[11]

Membership of the Loyal Orders

Elliott is a member of the Orange Order within Fermanagh, the Royal Black Preceptory and the Kesh branch of the Apprentice Boys of Derry (ABOD).^[12]

Controversies

Elliott caused controversy while campaigning for the UUP leadership when he stated publicly that he wouldn't attend gay pride parades or Gaelic Athletic Association matches.^[13] However he has consequently met with gay rights groups and GAA figures in Northern Ireland.^[14][15] In May 2015 he is, and now as MP, still refusing to attend GAA matches. ^[16]

After he was elected in the 2011 Assembly election, in his victory speech in Omagh Elliott referred to the Irish tricolour as a "flag of a foreign nation". When he started to receive heckles from the audience, he went on to describe nationalist supporters holding Irish flags as "the scum of Sinn Féin."^[17][18] Although initially refusing to retract his comments ^[19] he later issued an apology of sorts "to all those good nationalists, republicans, even Sinn Fein voters who felt offended by it."^[20]

External links

• NI Assembly profile

References