Stephen Ronald Aiken (born June 1962) is a Northern Irish politician, serving as the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2024. A member of the

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), he was party leader from 2019 to 2021, having previously served as Chief Whip from 2017 to 2019. Aiken has been a

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 South Antrim since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, although he received a brief suspension in May 2024 after being sanctioned for breaching the "confidentiality" of the assembly complaints process.

Early life and education

Aiken was born in South Antrim, attended Thompson Primary School, Ballyrobert, and then was educated at Belfast High School. He joined the Sea Cadets in 1982 based at HMS Caroline (1914), which remains in its original dock as a Museum Ship. During his naval career he undertook further study and holds a PhD and MPhil in International Relations from the Department of Politics and International Relations at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, with his thesis research on India and its growing military power. He also has a MA in Defence Studies from the Department of Defence Studies at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

Military career

Aiken served for 32 years in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

as a submariner, ultimately in many senior operational roles, including commanding two nuclear-powered submarines, being Joint Plans Officer for operations in the Middle-East in 2002-04 (for which he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE)). At the end of his service in the Royal Navy, he became the founding CEO of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, a post he held for three years during which time he lived in Dublin with his family.

Political career

Aiken was one of three

(UUP) candidates to run in South Antrim at the

2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election (representing ...

.He was elected on the seventh count, with 3,280 first-preference votes (9.3%), being only the UUP candidate to be returned in the constituency. At the 2017 Assembly election, Aiken was re-elected on the fifth count with 14.8% of first-preferences

Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party

When Robin Swann MLA announced his sudden resignation as leader of the

in 2019, Aiken stood for the leadership. He was elected unopposed as leader in November 2019 and led the party through difficult periods addressing concerns about Brexit, the Protocol and pandemic. He promptly opted for the UUP to take the Ministry of Health Department, when no other party would take it, and appointed Mr Swann MLA as Minister. He announced his resignation as leader eighteen months later because he held a firm position that the Chief Constable needed to resign in 2021.

Post-leadership

In October 2021 Aiken was reselected to be a UUP candidate for South Antrim in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election. He was reelected in the May 2022 poll and, despite the lack of a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly since February 2022, he continues to serve the people of South Antrim and remains the Party Spokesperson on the Northern Ireland Protocol and Finance, in addition to his private consulting business.

Suspension from the Assembly

In 2024, Aiken received a two-day suspension from the Assembly after being accused of breaching the "confidentiality" of the assembly complaints process. The standards committee recommended a sanction over Aiken disclosing a complaint he had made against another MLA. On 7 May 2024, MLAs backed a motion to suspend him from attending business on the 13th and 14th of May.

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

MLA Paula Bradshaw called on Aiken to consider his position as deputy speaker.

References

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly profileUlster Unionist Party profile
1962 births Living people Royal Navy officers People educated at Belfast High School Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Officers of the Order of the British Empire Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 Leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub