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The Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Bannside PC
First Minister of Northern Ireland
In office 8 May 2007 – 5 June 2008
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Martin McGuinness
Preceded by	David Trimble
Succeeded by	Peter Robinson
Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
In office 30 September 1971 – 31 May 2008
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Peter Robinson
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim
In office 25 June 1998 – 25 March 2011
Preceded by	Office Created
Member of Parliament for North Antrim
In office 18 June 1970 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Henry Maitland Clark
Succeeded by	Ian Paisley, Jr.
Personal details
Born	thumb (1926-04-06) 6 April 1926 (age 98) Armagh, Northern Ireland
Died	thumb Ian Paisley
Resting place	thumb Ian Paisley
Nationality	British
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Spouses	Eileen Cassells
Children	Rhonda Sharon Cherith Kyle Ian
Parent	thumb Ian Paisley
Residences	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Profession	Political activist Minister
Website	Official website

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC (born 6 April 1926) is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.

In addition to co-founding the DUP and leading it from 1971 to 2008, he is a founding member and immediate past Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. In 2005, Paisley's political party became the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, displacing his long-term rivals, the Ulster Unionists (UUP), who had dominated unionist politics in Northern Ireland since before the partition of Ireland.

On 4 March 2008 he announced that he would step down as First Minister and leader of the DUP after the US-Northern Ireland Investment Conference in May 2008. Peter Robinson duly took over as DUP leader on 31 May 2008, and replaced Paisley as First Minister on 5 June 2008. Paisley was made a life peer in the Dissolution Honours List of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, ennobled on 18 June 2010 as Baron Bannside, of North Antrim in the County of Antrim.

Personal life

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley was born in Armagh, County Armagh and brought up in the town of Ballymena, County Antrim, where his father James Kyle Paisley was an Independent Baptist pastor. The senior Paisley had served in the Ulster Volunteers under Edward Carson.

He married Eileen Cassells on 13 October 1956. They have five children, three daughters Sharon, Rhonda and Cherith and twin sons, Kyle and Ian. Three of their children have followed their father into politics or religion: Kyle is a Free Presbyterian minister; Ian is a DUP MP; and Rhonda, a retired DUP councillor. He has a brother, Harold, who currently preaches in the United States and Canada.

Following rumours and a marked change in his appearance, it was confirmed in July 2004 that Paisley had been undergoing tests for an undisclosed illness and in 2005 Ian Paisley, Jr. confirmed that his father had been gravely ill. Paisley himself later admitted that he had "walked in death's shadow."

Religious career

During his time working on the farm, the young Paisley felt that he received a vocation to enter the Christian ministry. He undertook theological training at the Barry School of Evangelism (now called the Evangelical Theological College of Wales), and later, for a year, at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Hall in Belfast.

Writings

Paisley set up his own newspaper in February 1966, the Protestant Telegraph, as a mechanism for further spreading his message. He has authored numerous books and pamphlets on religious and political subjects including a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.

Campaign against homosexuality

He has preached against homosexuality and supports laws criminalising its practice. Intertwining his religious and political views, "Save Ulster from Sodomy" was a campaign launched by Paisley in 1977, in opposition to the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform (Northern Ireland), established in 1974. Paisley's campaign sought to prevent the extension to Northern Ireland of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which had decriminalised homosexual acts between males over 21 years of age in England and Wales. The campaign failed when legislation was passed in 1982 as a result of the previous year's ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Dudgeon v United Kingdom.

Christian views

Paisley promotes a form of Biblical literalism, which he describes as "Bible Protestantism". The website of Paisley's public relations arm, the European Institute of Protestant Studies, describes the institute's purpose as to "expound the Bible, expose the Papacy, and to promote, defend and maintain Bible Protestantism in Europe and further afield." Paisley's website describes a number of doctrinal areas in which he believes that the "Roman church" (which he termed Popery) has deviated from the Bible and thus from true Christianity.

In 1988, when Pope John Paul II delivered a speech to the European Parliament, Paisley shouted "I denounce you as the Antichrist!" and held up a red poster reading "Pope John Paul II ANTICHRIST" in black letters. John Paul continued with his address after Paisley was ejected from the hemicycle by fellow MEPs. Some reports claimed that other MEPs, including Otto von Habsburg, assisted in expelling him from the chamber, and that Paisley was booed and struck by other MEPs, who also hurled objects at him, leading to his hospitalisation.

Paisley continued to denounce the Catholic Church and the Pope after the incident. In a television interview for The Unquiet Man, a 2001 documentary on Paisley's life, he expressed his pride at being the only person to have the courage to denounce the Pope. After the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Paisley expressed sympathy for Catholics stating "We can understand how Roman Catholics feel at the death of the Pope and we would want in no way to interfere with their expression of sorrow and grief at this time." This was in contrast to Paisley's reaction to the death of Pope John XXIII in June 1963, when Paisley organised protests against the lowering of flags in public buildings after the death of the Pope.

He has claimed in an article that the seat no. 666 in the European Parliament is reserved for the Antichrist. His website also praises Slobodan Milošević, who it claims was fighting a Vatican plot to destroy the Serbian Orthodox Church, and that "all Milosevic did was to lead the Serbs in their attempt to safeguard 1500 years of their heritage with the horrors and injustices of their World War II genocide ever before them".

He and his organisation have publicly spoken out against what he views to be blasphemy in popular culture, including criticism of the stage productions Jesus Christ Superstar and Jerry Springer: The Opera, as well as being strongly pro-life.

Although at political odds with the Republic of Ireland, he has some religious followers in two (County Donegal and County Monaghan). These counties are part of the Republic. It was specifically in his religious capacity that he first agreed to meet the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. Paisley revised this stance in September 2004, when he agreed to meet Ahern in his political capacity as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. Known for a sense of humour, at an early meeting with Ahern at the Irish embassy in London, Paisley requested breakfast and asked for boiled eggs; when Ahern asked him why he had wanted boiled eggs, Paisley quipped "it would be hard for you to poison them".

Political career

Early activism and paramilitary involvement

Paisley's first political involvement came at the 1950 UK general election, when he campaigned on behalf of the successful Ulster Unionist Party candidate in Belfast West, the Church of Ireland minister James Godfrey MacManaway. Inspired by MacManaway's blend of unionism and Protestantism, Paisley joined independent Unionist MP Norman Porter's National Union of Protestants, but left after Porter refused to join the Free Presbyterians.

Paisley was among those invited in 1956 to a special meeting at the Ulster Unionist Party's offices in Glengall Street, Belfast. The meeting's declared purpose was to organise the defence of Protestant areas against anticipated Irish Republican Army (IRA) activity, in the manner of the old Ulster Protestant Association after the partition of Ireland in the early 1920s. The new body decided to call itself Ulster Protestant Action (UPA), and the first year of its existence was taken up with the discussion of vigilante patrols, street barricades, and drawing up lists of IRA suspects in both Belfast and in rural areas. The UPA was to later become the Protestant Unionist Party in 1966. Factory and workplace branches were formed under the UPA, including one by Paisley in Belfast's Ravenhill area under his direct control. The concern of the UPA increasingly came to focus on the defence of 'Bible Protestantism' and Protestant interests where jobs and housing were concerned. As Paisley came to dominate Ulster Protestant Action, he received his first convictions for public order offences. In June 1959, a major riot occurred on the Shankill Road in Belfast following a rally at which he had spoken.

Paisley, along with Noel Docherty established the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee, which in turn established the paramilitary organisation Ulster Protestant Volunteers on 17 April 1966 at a parade in the Shankill area of Belfast Paisley went on to establish another paramilitary group, Third Force, on 1 April 1981. Another paramilitary group, Ulster Resistance, was established by Paisley in 1986.

In 1964, his demand that the Royal Ulster Constabulary remove an Irish tricolour from Sinn Féin's Belfast offices led to two days of rioting, after this was followed through (see Flags and Emblems Act – the public display of any symbol, with the exception of the Union flag, that could cause a breach of the peace was illegal until Westminster repealed the Act in 1987). Paisley's approach led him in turn to oppose O'Neill's successors as Prime Minister, Major James Chichester-Clark (later Lord Moyola) and Brian Faulkner.

In 1969, he was jailed along with Ronald Bunting for organising an illegal counter-demonstration against a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Armagh. He was released during a general amnesty for people convicted of political offences.

Electoral success and the DUP foundation

Paisley easily retained his seat in every European election until he stood down in 2004, receiving the highest popular vote of any British MEP (although as Northern Ireland uses a different electoral system to Great Britain for European elections, the figures are not strictly comparable).

1973 Sunningdale agreement: opposed

In April 1977, Paisley declared he would retire from politics if a forthcoming United Unionist Action Council general strike was unsuccessful. The strike failed, but Paisley did not keep the promise.{{fact} In December 1981, the United States State Department revoked his visa, at the insistence of Irish American supporters of Sinn Féin, whose members had been excluded due to the party's links to the PIRA, citing his "divisive rhetoric".

1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement: 'Ulster says no'

A rally of protesters, estimated between 100,000 and 200,000 people, met in front of Belfast City Hall after a campaign dubbed after its slogan "Ulster Says No" to protest the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Republic of Ireland a consultive role in the affairs of Northern Ireland. The rally, was addressed by Paisley and then UUP leader James Molyneaux. In his address, Paisley said:

Where do the terrorists operate from? From the Irish Republic! Where do the terrorists return to for sanctuary? To the Irish Republic! And yet Mrs. Thatcher tells us that the Republic must have some say in our Province. We say never, never, never, never!

The demonstration passed off peacefully but was ignored by the government. On 9 December 1986, Paisley was once again ejected from the European Parliament for continually interrupting a speech by Thatcher.

1995: Drumcree standoff

Paisley is a former member of the Orange Institution. He addresses the annual gathering of the Independent Orange Order every Twelfth of July.

In 1995, he played a part in the Drumcree conflict over marching in Portadown, County Armagh between the Orange Order and local residents of the Garvaghy Road. The march passed off after the decision was made by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to allow it and Paisley ended the march hand in hand with David Trimble who appeared to perform a "Victory Jig". This "Victory Jig" was seen by some as an act of triumphalism.

Opposition to the 1998 Belfast Agreement

Paisley's DUP was initially involved in the negotiations under former United States Senator George J. Mitchell that led to the Belfast Agreement of 1998. The party withdrew in protest when Sinn Féin was allowed to participate after its ceasefire. Paisley and his party opposed the Agreement in the referendum that followed its signing, which saw it approved by over 70% of the voters in Northern Ireland and by over 90% of voters in the Republic of Ireland.

Although Paisley often stresses his loyalty to the Crown, he accused Queen Elizabeth of being Tony Blair's "parrot" when she voiced approval of the Agreement.

As part of the deal, the Republic amended, but did not eliminate, the controversial Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland, which had originally claimed its government's de jure right to govern the whole island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland.

The DUP fought the resulting election to the Northern Ireland Assembly, to which Paisley was elected, while keeping his seats in the Westminster and European parliaments. The DUP took two seats in the multi-party power-sharing executive (Paisley, like the leaders of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin chose not to become a minister) but those DUP members serving as ministers (Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds) refused to attend meetings of the Executive Committee (cabinet) in protest at Sinn Féin's participation.

Having spent most of his career, as he himself jokingly admitted once, saying 'No', Paisley assumed the chairmanship of the Agriculture committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly created by the Belfast Agreement, where he was praised as an effective, coordinating chairman. The Minister for Agriculture, Nationalist SDLP's Bríd Rodgers, remarked that she and Paisley had a "workmanlike" relationship.

2000s: compromise and power

In the October 2006 St Andrews Agreement, Paisley and the DUP agreed to new elections, and support for a new executive including Sinn Féin subject to Sinn Féin acceptance of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. This reversed decades of Paisley opposition to Sinn Féin such as his comments on 12 July 2006 in Portrush, following Orange Order parades when he said, " are not fit to be in partnership with decent people. They are not fit to be in the government of Northern Ireland and it will be over our dead bodies if they ever get there."

Sinn Féin did endorse the PSNI, and in the subsequent election Paisley and the DUP received an increased share of the vote and increased their assembly seats from 30 to 36. On Monday 26 March 2007, the date of the British Government deadline for devolution or dissolution, Paisley led a DUP delegation to a meeting with a Sinn Féin delegation led by Gerry Adams, which agreed on a DUP proposal that the executive would be established on 8 May.

On 8, May 2007 power was devolved, the Assembly met, and Paisley was elected as First Minister of Northern Ireland with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness as the deputy First Minister. Speaking at Stormont to an invited international audience he said, "Today at long last we are starting upon the road — I emphasise starting — which I believe will take us to lasting peace in our province." Paisley and McGuinness subsequently established a good working relationship and were dubbed by the Northern Irish media as the "Chuckle Brothers".

At the age of 78, he retired from his European Parliament seat at the 2004 elections and was succeeded by Jim Allister.

He again retained his North Antrim seat in the 2005 UK general election. In 2005, Paisley was made a Privy Counsellor, an appointment traditionally bestowed upon leaders of political parties in the British Parliament. In 2007, aged 81, he became First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Upon the death of Piara Khabra in June 2007, Paisley became the oldest sitting British MP. In September 2007, he confirmed that he would contest North Antrim at the 2010 general election as well as serving the full four years as first minister stating "I might as well make hay while the sun shines."

Following his January 2008 retirement as a religious leader and pressure from party insiders, on 4 March 2008, Paisley announced that he would stand down as DUP leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland in May 2008. On 17 April, Peter Robinson was elected unopposed as leader of the DUP and succeeded Paisley as First Minister at a special sitting of the assembly on 5 June 2008.

In 2007, Paisley was named as "Opposition Parliamentarian of the Year" in the House Magazine Parliamentary Awards and by the Spectator Magazine as "Marathon Man of the Year."

On 2 March 2010, it was announced that Ian Paisley would step down as a Member of Parliament in the next general election; held on 6 May. His son Ian Paisley, Jr. was elected to succeed him in the seat at the general election on 6 May 2010.

Peerage

On 18 June 2010, Paisley was created a life peer as Baron Bannside, of North Antrim in the County of Antrim, and he was introduced in the House of Lords on 5 July 2010.

Relationship with the nationalist SDLP

From the 1960s, one of his main rivals was civil rights leader and co-founder of the nationalist SDLP, John Hume. British Government papers released in 2002, show that in 1971 Paisley attempted to reach a compromise with the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The attempt was made via then British Cabinet Secretary, Sir Burke Trend. The papers show that Paisley had indicated he could "reach an accommodation with leaders of the Catholic minority, which would provide the basis of a new government in Stormont." It appears that the move was rejected once it became clear to the SDLP that the deal would favour the unionist majority. Speaking about the deal in 2002 Paisley said:

The SDLP did not want to go along the road that we would have wanted them to go. I wouldn't say there were talks, there was an exchange of views between us, but it never got anywhere. We were prepared to try and seek a way whereby we could govern Northern Ireland and that people of both faiths could be happy with the way it was being governed, but it all rested on the key point — the person with power would be the person that the people gave the power.

Though their parties are often at loggerheads, Hume and Paisley worked jointly on behalf of Northern Ireland in the European Parliament and on occasion worked jointly in the British House of Commons. Hume tells the story of the occasion when he said to Ian Paisley, "Ian, if the word 'no' were to be removed from the English language, you'd be speechless, wouldn't you!" Paisley replied, "No, I wouldn't!"

1. ^ "Paisley to quit as first minister". BBC News online. 4 March 2008.
2. "bbc.co.uk - June 5, 2008 - "Robinson is new NI first minister"". BBC News. 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
3. Dissolution honours: John Prescott made a peer BBC Website 2010-05-28 Retrieved 2010-05-28
4. London Gazette 23 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
5. Downing, Taylor; The Troubles: The background to the question of Northern Ireland, page 132, third printing; published by Thames Macdonald
6. Martina Purdy, BBC News, February 1, 2007, Profile: Ian Paisley
7. T. Gallagher, "Religion, Reaction, and Revolt in Northern Ireland: The Impact of Paisleyism in Ulster", Journal of Church and State, 23.3 (1981), p. 440
8. Stonewall timeline of Gay & Lesbian history available here .
9. Home page
10. MacDonald, Susan (1988-10-02). "Paisley ejected for insulting Pope". The Times.
11. Chrisafis, Angelique (2004-09-16 ). "The Return of Dr. No". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |date= (help)
12. "HEADLINERS; Papal Audience", The New York Times, 16 October 1988.
13. David McKittrick, "An amazing conversion? The Big Man makes a long journey", The Independent, October 10, 2006.
14. Devenport, Mark (19 January 2004). "Paisley's exit from Europe". BBC News. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
15. "Billy Graham's Tragic Romeward Run". Cnview.com. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
16. "Free Presbyterian Church - Dr. Ian Paisley". Freepres.org. 1988-10-16. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
17. "NI leaders pay tribute to Pope". BBC News. 3 April 2005. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
18. CNN http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/n.ireland/profiles/people/paisley.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
19. "EIPS — The Vacant Seat Number 666 in the European Parliament". Ianpaisley.org. 1999-07-22. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
20. "EIPS - Putting Milosevic's Death In Perspective". Ianpaisley.org. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
21. "Free Presbyterian Church — Church Information". Free Presbyterian Church. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
22. "EIPS — Dr Paisley Given The Freedom Of Ballymena". Ianpaisley.org. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
23. Clifford Smyth, Ian Paisley: Voice of Protestant Ulster, p.4
24. Clifford Smyth, Ian Paisley: Voice of Protestant Ulster, p.5
25. This move followed the election win by Sinn Féin of over 150,000 votes in the 1955 elections - the strongest expression of anti-partitionist feeling in some years. The fears were well founded as the IRA was preparing for a new campaign starting in December 1956, which would have included attacks on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) stations in Belfast were it not for that section of the plan being discovered. See article Border Campaign (IRA)
26. See CEB Brett, Long Shadows Cast Before, Edinburgh, 1978, pp. 130-131
27. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, p.255
28. See Ian S. Wood, 'The IRA's Border Campaign' p. 123 in Anderson, Malcolm and Eberhard Bort, ed. 'Irish Border: History, Politics, Culture'. Liverpool University Press. 1999
29. Boulton, David.The UVF 1966-73, An Anatomy of Loyalist Rebellion Dublin: Torc Books, 1973. (Boulton 34)
30. Paul Arthur & Keith Jeffrey, Northern Ireland Since 1968, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996
31. "CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
32. "Northern Ireland: Unleashing the Third Force". Time. 7 December 1981. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
33. "Unleashing the Third Force" Time
34. "CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
35. "Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 463 (N.I. 7)". Opsi.gov.uk. 2000-09-20. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
36. PRISON SENTENCES ON PAISLEY AND BUNTING, The Times, 28 January 1969]
37. "BBC 2004 election coverage". BBC News. 2004-06-01. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
38. Slavin, Barbara (1981-12-27). "THE WORLD IN SUMMARY; U.S. PULLS THE RUG ON PAISLEY" (abstract; fee required). The New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-06-13. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
39. "Speech to European Parliament | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". Margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
40. Wolff, Stefan & Neuheiser, Jorg (2003). Peace at Last?: The Impact of the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland (Studies in Ethnopolitics). Berghahn Books. p. 103. ISBN 978-1571815187.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
41. The "Victory Jig" appears to have discredited Trimble in the longrun to the benefit of Dr. Paisley. See comments on the "Victory Jig" here.; see video of the controversial march through the area and "Victory Jig" in the 1995 section here.
42. Press Briefing: 3.45pm Monday 21 February 2005 10 Downing Street website.
43. "Sanctions against DUP ministers". BBC News. 8 June 2000. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
44. Old hatreds thaw during 61 days of normal politics|Independent, The (London)|Find Articles at BNET.com
45. "Belfast march passes peacefully", BBC News, 12 July 2006.
46. "Ian Paisley's speech in full", BBC News, 8 May 2007.
47. "'Chuckle brothers' enjoy 100 days", BBC News, Aug 15, 2007.
48. "DUP leader to join privy council", BBC News, 21 October 2005.
49. "Northern Ireland News, NI news, Local News Belfast, Ireland, world news, NI video UTV Live, Watch news online, headlines, breaking news, latest stories u.tv". UTV. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
50. "Robinson confirmed as DUP leader". BBC News online. 17 April 2008.
51. "Robinson is new NI first minister". BBC News. 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
52. BBC Coverage of Paisley winning "Opposition Parliamentarian of the Year"
53. Paisley wins Marathon Man of the Year by Spectator Magazine
54. Sharrock, David (2 March 2010). "Ian Paisley to step down from North Antrim seat after 40 years as MP". London: Times Newspapers. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
55. House of Lords Business, 22 June 2010
56. ^ "Ian Paisley sought 'deal' with SDLP", BBC News, 1 January 2002.
57. Cullen, Kevin (2006-01-22). "N. Ireland laureate seeks to raise moderates' profile — The Boston Globe". Boston.com. Retrieved 2010-06-16.