John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice

{{Short description|Northern Irish politician (born 1955)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}} {{Use British English|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Alderdice | honorific_suffix = | image = Official portrait of Lord Alderdice crop 2, 2025.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2025 | office = President of Liberal International | deputy = | term_start = 25 April 2005 | term_end = 20 April 2009 | predecessor = Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck | successor = Hans van Baalen | order2 = 1st | office2 = Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | monarch2 = Elizabeth II | first_minister2 = '''First Ministers''' '''''(1998–2002)''''' David Trimble Reg Empey {{small|(Acting)}} David Trimble '''Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland''' '''''(2002–2004)''''' John Reid Paul Murphy | 1blankname2 = Deputy | 1namedata2 = Sir John Gorman Donovan McClelland Jane Morrice Jim Wilson | term_start2 = 1 July 1998 | term_end2 = 29 February 2004 | predecessor2 = ''Position established'' | successor2 = Eileen Bell | office3 = Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | deputy3 = Gordon Mawhinney Seamus Close | 1blankname3 = General Secretary | 1namedata3 = Eileen Bell David Ford | term_start3 = 1987 | term_end3 = 1998 | predecessor3 = John Cushnahan | successor3 = Seán Neeson | office4 = Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast East | term_start4 = 25 June 1998 | term_end4 = 26 November 2003 | predecessor4 = ''New creation'' | successor4 = Naomi Long | order5 = Member of Belfast City Council | constituency5 = Victoria | term_start5 = 17 May 1989 | term_end5 = 1997 | predecessor5 = Oliver Napier | successor5 = David Alderdice | office6 = Member of the House of Lords | status6 = Lord Temporal | term_label6 = Life peerage | term_start6 = 7 October 1996 | term_end6 = | birth_name = John Thomas Alderdice | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|3|28|df=yes}} | birth_place = Ballymena, Northern Ireland | death_date = | death_place = | party = Alliance | other_party = Liberal Democrats{{efn|As a peer}} | alma_mater = Queen's University Belfast | spouse = Joan Hill, Lady Alderdice | children = 3 | website = }}

'''John Thomas Alderdice, Baron Alderdice''' (born 28 March 1955<ref name=bbcdemocracy>{{cite news |author=United Kingdom |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/26850.stm |title=Democracy Live | Your representatives | John Alderdice |work=BBC News |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092613/http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/26850.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>), is a Northern Ireland politician. He was the Speaker and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2004 and 1998 to 2003, respectively. Alderdice was the leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from 1987 to 1998, and since 1996 has sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat.<ref name=bbcdemocracy/>

==Personal life== Alderdice was born to David Alderdice and Annie Margaret Helena Shields. He was educated at Ballymena Academy and the Queen'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.<ref name=cacroft>{{cite web|url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index2016.htm |title=Alderdice, Baron (UK, 1996) |publisher=Cracroftspeerage.co.uk |access-date=22 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928130720/http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index2016.htm |archive-date=28 September 2011 }}</ref> He worked part-time as a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in the NHS from 1988 until he retired from psychiatric practice in 2010.<ref name=rcpsych>{{cite journal |url=http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/25/12/491 |title=Election and introduction of Honorary Fellows – 25 (12): 491 – The Psychiatrist |doi=10.1192/pb.25.12.491 |publisher=Pb.rcpsych.org |access-date=22 August 2010 |journal=BJPsych Bulletin |archive-date=7 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907004949/http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/25/12/491 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=hol>{{cite web |title=Lord Alderdice |url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/john-alderdice/26850 |website=UK Parliament |access-date=22 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513042525/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/john-alderdice/26850 |archive-date=13 May 2010 }}</ref> He also lectured at Queen's University's Faculty of Medicine between 1991 and 1999.<ref name=rcpsych/>

Alderdice claims a distant relationship to John King, a 19th-century Australian explorer and the sole survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Irish Lord's connection with the Yandruwandha people. |url=http://caama.com.au/irish-lords-connection-with-the-yandruwandha-people |work=CAAMA News |publisher=Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association |access-date=5 September 2013 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195938/http://caama.com.au/irish-lords-connection-with-the-yandruwandha-people |archive-date=29 October 2013 }}</ref> He is the older brother of David Alderdice.

== Political career in Northern Ireland == The Alliance Party was formed in 1970 as an alternative to sectarian politics.<ref name=ap>{{cite web |title=Alliance and the Peace Process (The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland) |url=http://www.allianceparty.org/speeches/000030/alliance_and_the_peace_process.html |website=Alliance Party |date=21 April 1970 |access-date=22 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504180348/http://www.allianceparty.org/speeches/000030/alliance_and_the_peace_process.html |archive-date= 4 May 2010 }}</ref> 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 the 1987 general election. He contested Belfast East for the party in 1987 and 1992.<ref name=bbcdemocracy/> He received 32.1% of the vote in 1987,<ref name=results>{{cite web |last=Bakerr |first=Glen |date=6 April 2010 |title=Belfast East election results 1885–2005 |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/belfast-east-election-results-18852005-14756900.html |work=Belfast Telegraph |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-date=1 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101003150/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/belfast-east-election-results-18852005-14756900.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the highest percentage achieved by Alliance in an individual seat in a Westminster election until Naomi Long's historic victory for the party in Belfast East in the 2010 general election.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.insideireland.ie/index.cfm/section/news/ext/naomilong001/category/1084 |title=Naomi Long beats Peter Robinson to win in East Belfast |publisher=InsideIreland.ie |access-date=22 August 2010 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> 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%.<ref name=ap/>

Alderdice once again contested Belfast East in the 1992 general election.<ref name=results/> He led the Alliance delegation to the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation at Dublin Castle and the Northern Ireland multiparty talks, and was a member of the Northern Ireland Forum.<ref name=rcpsych/>

Alderdice was willing to talk with Sinn Féin after the IRA called a ceasefire in 1994, when many in the unionist community regarded such discussions as unacceptable.<ref>{{cite news |title=Profile – John Alderdice |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/focus/97363.stm |archive-date=17 July 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040717175702/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/focus/97363.stm |url-status=live |work=BBC News |date=20 May 1998 |access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/122743.stm |title=Latest News | Alderdice to be Assembly's first Speaker |work=BBC News |date=29 June 1998 |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-date=23 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823003942/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/122743.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Alderdice was a member of Belfast City Council from 1989 until 1997 representing the Victoria constituency.<ref name=hol/> He resigned as party leader in 1998 to take the position of Speaker.<ref name=rcpsych/> He was a member of the Independent Monitoring Commission from 2004 to 2011.<ref name=indy>{{cite web |title=Independent Monitoring Coimmission |url=http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/cv_01.cfm |website=Independent Monitoring Commission |date=7 January 2004 |access-date=22 August 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807211931/http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/cv_01.cfm |archive-date= 7 August 2010 }}</ref>

== Elevation to peerage == Alderdice was created a life peer on 8 October 1996 as '''Baron Alderdice''', of Knock in the City of Belfast,<ref name=cacroft/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54552 |date=15 October 1996 |page=13689}}</ref> and was one of the youngest ever life peers.<ref name=rcpsych/> 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 chaired the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party in the House of Lords; he left the convenor position in 2014.<ref name=hol/>

He was elected president of Liberal International in 2005 and served until Liberal International's Cairo congress in 2009. He was succeeded by Dutch politician Hans van Baalen.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bureau – People – Members – Liberalism |url=http://www.liberal-international.org/showChildrenOnly.asp?ia_id=528 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618132230/http://www.liberal-international.org/showChildrenOnly.asp?ia_id=528 |archive-date=18 June 2010 |website=Liberal International |access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref>

== Awards and honours == Alderdice has been awarded several honours: the John F Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award in 1998; the W. 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=EUROPEAN UNION – Delegation of the European Union to the USA – October 15, 2008 |url=http://www.eurunion.org/eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2918&Itemid=57 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110611111119/http://www.eurunion.org/eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2918&Itemid=57 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 June 2011 |website=European Union |date=15 October 2008 |access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref> He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,<ref name=indy/> but resigned in June 2018 due to the church's opposition to same-sex relationships.<ref>{{cite web |last=Walker |first=Stephen |date=14 June 2018 |title=Lord Alderdice resigns from Presbyterian Church |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-44487070 |archive-date=27 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927092937/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-44487070 |url-status=live |website=BBC News |access-date=14 June 2018}}</ref>

In 2001, he was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists<ref name=rcpsych/> and has also been awarded an honorary doctorate in law from Robert Gordon University.<ref>{{cite web |title=Honorary Graduates | News & Events | Robert Gordon University (RGU) Aberdeen Scotland |url=http://www.rgu.ac.uk/news-and-events/honorary-graduates- |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528120009/http://www.rgu.ac.uk/news-and-events/honorary-graduates- |archive-date=28 May 2010 |website=Robert Gordon University |access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref>

== Arms == {{Emblem table | image = centre|150pxcentre|200px | escutcheon = Or a Fess wavy between two Cotises wavy set on the outer edge with Alder Leaves all between three Estoiles Azure | crest = In front of a Boar salient to the sinister Azure armed and unguled Or a Boar salient Or armed and unguled Azure | coronet = of a Baron | supporters = On either side a Pegasus reguardant Argent maned tailed unguled and winged Or in the mouth a Flax Flower Azure slipped and leaved Or | motto = Bene Qui Pacifi | badge = Within an Annulet set on the outer rim with Alder Leaves the Head of Janus couped Or <ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2019}}</ref> }}

== References == {{Reflist}}{{Notelist}}

==External links== * [https://www.lordalderdice.com Lord Alderdice] Personal website * [http://www.libdems.org.uk/peers.aspx Lord Alderdice] profile at the site of Liberal Democrats * {{UK Peer links | parliament = john-alderdice/26850 | hansard = mr-john-alderdice | hansardcurr = 3622 | guardian = | publicwhip = Lord_Alderdice | theywork = lord_alderdice | record = John-Alderdice/1443 | bbc = 26850.stm | journalisted = }} *{{C-SPAN|34225}} * [http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/people/biography/apeople.htm Biographies of Prominent People], CAIN.ulster.ac.uk

{{s-start}} {{s-par|ni/for}} {{s-new | Forum}} {{s-ttl | title = Member for East Belfast | years = 1996–1998 }} {{s-non | reason = Forum dissolved }}

{{S-par|ni/ass}} {{s-new | Assembly }} {{s-ttl | title = MLA for Belfast East | years = 1998–2003 }} {{s-aft | after = Naomi Long}} {{S-ppo}} {{Succession box | title=Leader of the Alliance Party (NI) | before=John Cushnahan | after=Seán Neeson | years=1987–1998}} {{Succession box |title=President of the Liberal International|before=Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck|after=Hans van Baalen| years=2005–2009}}

{{s-off}} {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly|years=1998–2004}} {{s-aft|after=Eileen Bell }} {{s-prec|uk}} {{s-bef|before=The Lord Saatchi}} {{s-ttl|title=Gentlemen''' ''Baron Alderdice'' '''}} {{s-fol|after=The Lord Chadlington}} {{S-end}}

{{Current Liberal Democrat peers}} {{2021 Lord Speaker election}} {{Alliance Party of Northern Ireland}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alderdice, John Alderdice, Baron}} Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Presbyterians from Northern Ireland Category:British psychiatrists Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Leaders of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Category:Academics of Queen's University Belfast Category:Members of Belfast City Council Category:Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Category:Fellows of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Category:Presidents of the Liberal International Category:People educated at Ballymena Academy Category:Speakers of the Northern Ireland Assembly Category:Alliance Party of Northern Ireland peers Category:Alliance Party of Northern Ireland councillors Category:Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life

John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice

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