Maurice George Morrow, Baron Morrow (born 27 September 1948) is a Unionist politician from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who has been Chairman of the DUP since 2000. He was made a life peer in June 2006. He was also a councillor on

Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council ( ga, Comhairle Buirge Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas, Ulster Scots: ''Rathgannon an Sooth Owenslanngh Cooncil'') was a local council in Northern Ireland from 1973 until 2015. It was originall ...

representing Dungannon Town. He was educated at Ballygawley Primary School, Dungannon Secondary and Dungannon Technical College, following which he pursued a career as an

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged ...

. His political career began in 1973 when he was elected to

Fermanagh District Council Fermanagh District Council was a local council in Northern Ireland. It was created out of Fermanagh County Council and later merged with Omagh District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Fermanagh and Omagh Di ...

. He served as a MLA of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998, until losing his seat in 2017. In July 2000 he became Minister for Social Development in the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ...

, a position held until October 2001, during which time he was credited with implementing policies recognising the needs of the elderly, the farming community and introduced new measures to tackle

welfare fraud Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. It was announced on 11 April 2006 that Morrow would be one of the first three members of the DUP to be created life peers, giving the party its first representation in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. He was created Baron Morrow, of Clogher Valley in the County of Tyrone, on 7 June 2006 and was formally introduced to the House of Lords on 27 June.

Recent history

In 2012 his constituency office in Dungannon was broken into and ransacked. Morrow vowed it would be business as usual despite the burglary. After hearing testimony about children and adults forced to work in brothels, farms and factories, including that of a Romanian woman who had been kidnapped in London and forced to work as a prostitute in Ireland, he put forward a bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly: the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act, passed in 2015, which made Northern Ireland the first and only place in the UK where the act of buying sex is a crime. The act of selling sex, by contrast, was decriminalised. The law was opposed by campaigners who wished to see the total decriminalisation of sex work. An application for judicial review failed on the death of the campaigner who had proposed it. The other DUP peers appointed as "working" life peers alongside Morrow in 2006 were

Wallace Browne Wallace Hamilton Browne, Baron Browne of Belmont (born 29 October 1947), is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2006, and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Eas ...

, former Lord Mayor of Belfast, and

Eileen Paisley Eileen Emily Paisley, Baroness Paisley of St George's, Lady Bannside (''née'' Cassells; born 2 November 1931), is a Northern Irish Unionist politician, a vice-president of the Democratic Unionist Party, and the widow of Ian Paisley, Lord Bann ...

, a former vice-president of the DUP and wife of the late Leader of the DUP, Ian Paisley. At the same time, it was announced that

David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He wa ...

, former MP and former leader of the

Ulster Unionists The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

, was also being appointed as a working life peer.

Personal life

Morrow is married and has two daughters. He maintains an interest in rural development.

References

External links

Maurice Morrow MLA
DUP website
List of Members
House of Lords

House of Lords – Minute
Four new unionist peers appointed
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 11 April 2006
TheyWorkForYou Voting Record
''

TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembl ...

'' TheyWorkForYou {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrow, Maurice 1948 births Living people Democratic Unionist Party life peers Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Politicians from County Tyrone Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Members of Fermanagh District Council Members of Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council Presbyterians from Northern Ireland People from Dungannon Life peers created by Elizabeth II