James Frederick Nicholson (born 29 January 1945) is a Northern Irish

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

(UUP) politician, who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

from 1989 to 2019. Prior to his election to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, Nicholson had been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry and Armagh from 1983 until his defeat in the by-elections of 1986, when he and others resigned and stood again to protest against the

Anglo-Irish Agreement The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Irelan ...

; Nicholson lost his seat to

Seamus Mallon Seamus Frederick Mallon ( ; 17 August 1936 – 24 January 2020) was an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001 and Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979 to ...

of the

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...

(SDLP), the only seat to be lost.

Career

Nicholson was born in 1945 in

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

. Educated locally, he later worked as a farmer on the family farm. He joined the

in the early 1970s and was the Secretary/Organiser of Mid-South Armagh Unionist Association from 1973 to 1983. He was elected to his first public office in 1976 as a member of

council; he served until 1997 and was chairman of the council in 1994–95. From 1982 to 1986, Nicholson was a member of the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

Westminster

Nicholson was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newry and Armagh in the 1983 general election for the UUP. At

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, he served on the

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Select Committee. Along with all other unionist MPs, he resigned from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in December 1985 as part of a wider protest against the

of that year and to secure a renewed mandate from their electors. A

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to fill his seat took place in January 1986. Nicholson, who was defending the nationalist-majority Newry and Armagh constituency in the by-election, was the only resigning MP not to re-win his seat, losing it to

of the moderate nationalist

(SDLP) in the by-election. He contested the seat again at the 1987 general election but demographics in the area had shifted against unionism; nationalist and republican candidates have held it ever since.

European Parliament

At the 1989 election to the

, he was elected as a

for

. He retained this seat in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

although never reaching a quota of first preference votes. On each occasion, he was re-elected with the help of transfers from other candidates, under Northern Ireland's EU election system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

using the

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, running as a Conservatives and Unionists candidate, he was elected second ahead of the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

, who for the first time failed to reach quota in a European Parliament election. Nicholson was initially a member of the

European People's Party group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

in the

. In 1997, however, he transferred to the

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

Independents for a Europe of Nations group. He served as vice-chairman of the group for two years. In 1999, he joined the

European Democrats The European Democratic Group, more commonly known as European Democrats, was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1979 and 1992. At its height in July 1979, it had 63 MEPs. Ideologically, ED was mor ...

wing of the

European People's Party - European Democrats The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...

group, the largest group in the Parliament, a eurosceptic wing which also contained the UK's

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MEPs. He was one of five Quaestors in the European Parliament, becoming the first ever MEP from Northern Ireland to hold such a senior position when elected on 21 July 2004; he was re-elected in 2007. In 2009, he was elected as a Conservatives and Unionists candidate and subsequently joined the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

Group. He served on the European Parliament's Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety between 2014 and 2017. Nicholson describes himself as a "euro-realist"; he is opposed to the creation of a federal Europe and is against the adoption of the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

as the currency of the United Kingdom. He does, however, believe that the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

has been good for Northern Ireland in relation to funding and infrastructure. In 2016, Nicholson voiced his concerns about the way in which the EU has changed since he first became an MEP. He retired at the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

. His party lost the seat at the election to

Naomi Long Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive since February 2024, having previously served from January 2020 to October 202 ...

of the Alliance Party.

Personal life

Nicholson married Elizabeth Gibson in 1968 and had six sons and one daughter. His wife died in May 2015 after a long illness. His son, Sam Nicholson, was a councillor and deputy mayor for ABC Borough Council, and a candidate for the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

general elections in Northern Ireland for the constituency of Newry and Armagh.

References

External links

Jim Nicholson WebsiteOfficial UUP biographyConservative Party Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Jim 1945 births Living people Mayors of places in Northern Ireland MEPs for Northern Ireland 1989–1994 MEPs for Northern Ireland 1994–1999 MEPs for Northern Ireland 1999–2004 MEPs for Northern Ireland 2004–2009 MEPs for Northern Ireland 2009–2014 MEPs for Northern Ireland 2014–2019 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Newry and Armagh (since 1983) Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 Ulster Unionist Party MPs Ulster Unionist Party MEPs UK MPs 1983–1987 Members of Armagh City and District Council People from Armagh (city) Articles containing video clips