Ken Maginnis

Kenneth Wiggins Maginnis, Baron Maginnis of Drumglass (born January 21, 1938) is a Northern Irish Ulster Unionist politician. Educated at the Royal School, Dungannon, and Stranmillis College in Belfast, he worked as a teacher for a number of years before joining the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1971. After leaving the force with the rank of Major in 1981, he became Ulster Unionist spokesman on internal security and defence, and was that same year elected to Dungannon District Council, on which he sat for twelve years.

Related Topics:
January 21 - 1938 - Northern Irish - Ulster Unionist - Dungannon - Belfast - Ulster Defence Regiment - 1971 - Major - 1981

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maginnis was the Ulster Unionist candidate for the second by-election in 1981. The following year he was elected a representative for Fermanagh & South Tyrone to the failed Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982, Maginnis was the following year returned to the House of Commons as the constituency's Member of Parliament. Two years later, along with the rest of his Unionist colleagues, he resigned his seat in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, but was re-elected in the subsequent by-election. At a Saint Patrick's Day display at Westminster in 1998, he tore two Irish tricolours from the wall and threw them into the Thames, saying he "did not think they would pollute the river too much." He was later a strong supporter of the Good Friday Agreement, and stood down as an MP at the 2001 General Election, being created a life peer that same year. He currently sits as a Cross-bencher in the House of Lords. Maginnis is one of only three MPs in the Ulster Unionist Party's history not to have been a member of the Orange Order.

Related Topics:
Second by-election in 1981 - Fermanagh & South Tyrone - 1982 - House of Commons - Constituency's - Member of Parliament - Unionist - Resigned - Anglo-Irish Agreement - Saint Patrick's Day - Irish tricolours - Thames - Good Friday Agreement - 2001 General Election - Life peer - Cross-bencher - House of Lords - Ulster Unionist Party - Orange Order

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~