Jim Allister

James Hugh "Jim" Allister, QC (born 2 April 1953) is an Ulster loyalist politician and senior barrister from Northern Ireland. He is the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party, serving as MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly, where he represents North Antrim. He was formerly a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), for which he successfully stood for election in 2004 to the European Parliament, succeeding Ian Paisley. He continued as a member of the European Parliament following his resignation from the DUP and his subsequent establishment of the TUV, but failed to retain his seat at the 2009 European parliamentary elections. In the European Parliament, although an avowed eurosceptic, he is a strong supporter of the Common Agricultural Policy's subsidies.

Background

Allister was born in Crossgar in County Down. After attending Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards, Allister graduated with a Bachelor of Law with Honours in Constitutional Law from Queen's University of Belfast. In 1974 he unsuccessfully stood for the post of President of Queen's University Belfast Students' Union, coming a very close second. He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland as a barrister in 1976, where he specialised in criminal law, and later called to the Senior Bar as a Queen's Counsel; he "took silk" in 2001.