Stephen Anthony Farry (born 22 April 1971) is a Northern Irish academic and former politician who was the deputy leader of the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland ...

from December 2016 to September 2024. Farry was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Down from 2019, until he lost his seat to

independent unionist Independent Unionist is a label sometimes used by candidates in British elections to indicate their support for British unionism. It is most popularly associated with candidates in elections for the Parliament of Northern Ireland. Such candi ...

Alex Easton Alexander Easton (born 19 May 1969) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Down since 2024. He previously served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 2003 to 2024. ...

at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. Farry served as the

member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for North Down from 2007 to 2019, and was Minister for Employment and Learning in the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive (Irish language, Irish: ''Feidhmeannas Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Executive'') is the devolution, devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branc ...

until the post was abolished in 2016. In 2019, he was elected to the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

as MP for North Down.

Early life and career

Farry is the son of Vincent Farry and Margaret Farry (''née'' Greer). He graduated from

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

in 1992 with a BSSc in Politics and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in International Relations in 2000. He was elected to the Assembly in the 2007 election for North Down, having first been elected to

North Down Borough Council North Down Borough Council was a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ards Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become North Down and Ards District Council. Its ...

in 1993. In 1996, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each List o ...

election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. In the

2010 United Kingdom general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, to elect 650 Members of Parliament (or MPs) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The first to be held after the minimum age for candidates was ...

, he contested North Down but came in third place. He is a former General Secretary of the

. He was appointed an International Peace Scholar by the US Institute of Peace in 2005. In 2007, he became Mayor of North Down.

Political career

Minister for Employment and Learning

Farry held his North Down seat in the 2011 Assembly election, and was subsequently appointed Minister for Employment and Learning in the 4th Northern Ireland Executive. In September 2011, Farry announced a freeze on

tuition fees Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spen ...

in Northern Ireland, with fees only subject to an inflationary rise. Following the decision by Alliance Party councillors to vote in favour of restricting the flying of the

Union flag The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

Belfast City Hall Belfast City Hall (; Ulster-Scots: ) is the civic building of Belfast City Council located in Donegall Square, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It faces North and effectively divides the commercial and business areas of the city centre. It is a Grad ...

to 17 specific days throughout the year in December 2012, Farry's constituency office in Bangor was the subject of an attempted arson attack. In February 2013, he launched a review of

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

s and youth training, aiming to build a "gold standard" system capable of "rebalancing of the local economy and meeting the specific needs of business for a highly-skilled workforce". The 32 proposals launched by the department in June 2014 included incentives for businesses, and were welcomed by the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a British business interest group, which says it represents 190,000 businesses. The CBI has been described by the ''Financial Times'' as "Britain's biggest business lobby group". Incorporated by roy ...

, the

Federation of Small Businesses The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is a UK business organisation representing small and medium-sized businesses. It was formed in 1974 as the National Federation of Self Employed (NFSE). The current name for the organisation was adopted in ...

and NUS-USI. Following the

2016 elections Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 April 2016 Djibouti * 2016 Djiboutian presidential ...

, Farry had been tipped by ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

'' to succeed David Ford as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. However, with the Alliance Party opting to enter opposition, he returned to the

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

. He subsequently assumed positions on the Stormont Committee for the Economy and Business Committee, remaining on these until the collapse of the Assembly in February 2017.

Deputy Leader of the Alliance Party

Following the resignation of David Ford as Alliance leader on 5 October 2016, Farry was named by ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' as a potential leadership contender alongside

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 ...

. However, he did not stand as a leadership candidate and was later elected unopposed as Deputy Leader of the party. At the 2017 Assembly election, Farry increased his share of first-preference votes in North Down to 7,014 (18.6%) and was re-elected on the first count. He served as Alliance's

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

spokesperson and has strongly advocated for a

People's Vote People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of ...

, argued against a

no-deal Brexit A no-deal Brexit (also called a clean-break Brexit) was the potential Brexit, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) without a withdrawal agreement. Under Withdrawal from the European Union, Article 50 o ...

and maintained that the Northern Ireland backstop must be part of any Withdrawal Agreement should the UK leave 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 ...

. On 8 September 2024, Farry announced that he will step down as deputy leader of the Alliance Party, after he lost his North Down seat in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

earlier that year. He resigned his membership of the party.

Member of Parliament

On 13 December 2019, Farry was elected to represent the constituency of North Down in the 2019 general election. Farry replaced long-term incumbent Lady Hermon, who had stepped down at the election after eighteen years as an

Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a 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 led unionist oppositi ...

, and later

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, MP. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 20 December 2019, starting his speech speaking in Irish to "reflect the shared traditions of Northern Ireland"; it was the first time since 1901 that a maiden speech had been conducted in Irish, when Thomas O'Donnell was chastised by the then- Speaker for not speaking in English in the chamber. In May 2020, Farry was one of a number of politicians warned that he was under threat from

loyalist paramilitaries Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland (and formerly all of Ireland) within the Un ...

. The threat was believed to have come from elements of the UDA in south-east Antrim. He lost his seat in the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

. It was reported that he would not take the seat in 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 ...

vacated by

Sorcha Eastwood Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 2024. A member of the Alliance Party, she previously served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valle ...

Personal life

In 2005, Farry married Wendy Watt. He lists his recreations as travel and international affairs, along with quizzes (having appeared on

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

in 1994) and reading history and biography.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farry, Stephen 1971 births Living people People from Newtownards Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MLAs Members of North Down Borough Council Mayors of places in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) UK MPs 2019–2024 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Down constituencies (since 1922) Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MPs Alliance Party of Northern Ireland councillors People educated at Our Lady and St. Patrick's College, Knock Alumni of Queen's University Belfast