Prime Minister of Northern Ireland








































Prime Minister of Northern Ireland

Coat of Arms of Northern Ireland.svg
Arms of the Executive Committee

Nominator House of Commons
Appointer Governor of Northern Ireland
Term length
At Her Majesty's pleasure
so long as General Elections are held no more than five years apart.
Inaugural holder Sir James Craig
Formation 7 June 1921
Final holder Brian Faulkner
Abolished 30 March 1972 (suspended)
18 July 1973 (abolished)
Deputy Deputy Prime Minister



















Northern Ireland 1921–1972

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Northern Ireland 1921–1972












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The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920,[1] however the Lord Lieutenant,[2] as with Governors-General in other Westminster Systems such as in Canada, chose to appoint someone to head the executive even though no such post existed in statute law. The office-holder assumed the title Prime Minister to draw parallels with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. On the advice of the new Prime Minister, the Lord Lieutenant then created the Department of the Prime Minister.[3] The office of Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was abolished in 1972, along with the contemporary government, when direct rule of Northern Ireland was transferred to London.


The Government of Ireland Act provided for the appointment of the Executive Committee of the Privy Council by the Governor.[4] No parliamentary vote was required. Nor, theoretically, was the Executive Committee and its prime minister responsible to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland. In reality the Governor chose the leader of the party with a majority in the House to form a government. On each occasion this was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, such was the UUP's electoral dominance using both a simple plurality and for the first two elections, a proportional electoral system. All Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland were members of the Orange Order.


The Prime Minister's residence from 1920 until 1922 was Cabin Hill, later to become the junior school for Campbell College. After 1922 Stormont Castle was used, though some prime ministers chose to live in Stormont House, the unused residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland.


The new offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister were created by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In contrast with the Westminster-style system of the earlier Stormont government, the new Northern Ireland Executive operates on the principles of consociational democracy.


In 1974, Brian Faulkner was chosen to lead the Northern Ireland Executive not as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland but as Chief Executive of Northern Ireland.




Contents






  • 1 List of office-holders


  • 2 Parliamentary Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister


  • 3 Additional Parliamentary Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister


  • 4 Sources


  • 5 Footnotes





List of office-holders
































































































No.
Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency
Portrait
Term of office
Elected
(Parliament)
Ministry
Party
Last office(s) held before election

1.

Sir James Craig (created The 1st Viscount Craigavon in 1927)[5]
(1871–1940)
MP for Down until 1929
MP for North Down from 1929


James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon.jpg
7 June 1921
24 November 1940

1921 (1st)

Craigavon

Ulster Unionist Party

Parliamentary and Financial
Secretary to the Admiralty
(1920–1921)

1925 (2nd)

1929 (3rd)

1933 (4th)

1938 (5th)

2.

John Miller Andrews
(1871–1956)
MP for Mid Down

John Miller Andrews.jpg
27 November 1940
1 May 1943
— (5th)

Andrews
Ulster Unionist Party

Minister of Finance (1937–1941)

3.

Sir Basil Brooke (created The 1st Viscount Brookeborough in 1952)[6]
(1888–1973)
MP for Lisnaskea

No image.svg
1 May 1943
26 March 1963
— (5th)

Brookeborough
Ulster Unionist Party

Minister of Commerce
(1941–1943)

1945 (6th)

1949 (7th)

1953 (8th)

1958 (9th)

1962 (10th)

4.

Terence O'Neill
(1914–1990)
MP for Bannside

No image.svg
25 March 1963
1 May 1969
— (10th)

O'Neill
Ulster Unionist Party
Minister of Finance (1956–1963)

1965 (11th)

1969 (12th)

5.

James Chichester-Clark
(1923–2002)
MP for South Londonderry

James Chichester-Clark 1970.jpg
1 May 1969
23 March 1971
— (12th)

Chichester-Clark
Ulster Unionist Party

Minister of Agriculture (1967–1969)
Leader of the House of Commons (1968–1969)

6.

Brian Faulkner
(1921–1977)
MP for East Down

No image.svg
23 March 1971
30 March 1972
— (12th)

Faulkner
Ulster Unionist Party

Minister of Development (1969–1971)


Parliamentary Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister



  • 1921–1929 Algernon Skeffington, 12th Viscount Massereene

  • 1929–1930 Maxwell Ward, 6th Viscount Bangor

  • 1930–1941 John Andrew Long

  • 1941–1948 Joseph Davison

  • 1948–1960 William Moore Wallis Clark

  • 1960–1970 Daniel McGladdery

  • 1970–1972 Captain John Brooke, 2nd Viscount Brookeborough



Additional Parliamentary Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister


  • 1969 Robert Simpson


Sources



  • Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition (Irish Academic Press, 1994)

  • Government of Ireland Act, 1920

  • The Government of Northern Ireland





Footnotes





  1. ^ Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition, p.111.


  2. ^ The new office of Governor had not yet come into being because its creation required an amendment to the original Act. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had originally been granted the role and exercised the powers, functions and duties pending the creation of governor's post in 1922. Ward, p.116.


  3. ^ Ward, p.116.


  4. ^ Government of Ireland Act 1920, s. 8.


  5. ^ Viscount Craigavon from 1927


  6. ^ Viscount Brookeborough from 1952









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