Brief Biography:

Ken Maginnis was born in County Tyrone and educated at the Royal School Dungannon and Stranmillis Teacher Training College, Belfast before pursuing a career as a teacher. In addition Maginnis was to serve in the Ulster Special Constabulary ('B-Specials') and later the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). He was first returned as a public representative in May 1981 as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) councillor on Dungannon District Council (1981-93). In August 1981 Maginnis was the party's unsuccessful candidate at the Westminster by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. This defeat however was overturned at the general election of 1983 when he won the seat with a comfortable majority (1983-2001). In addition to his role as an MP, Maginnis also sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly (1982-86) and acted as the UUP's spokesman on security matters (1982-2001).

Following the resignation of James Molyneaux, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), in 1995 Maginnis contested the leadership and was widely seen by many commentators as representing the liberal wing of the party. Although his attempt failed Maginnis soon emerged as a close ally of the new leader of the UUP, David Trimble, and this became more evident when in May 1996 he was returned to the Northern Ireland Forum (1996-98). As a member of the UUP's delegation to the all-party talks that were to finally produce the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) he was a firm supporter of the stance and tactics adopted by Trimble. Furthermore in the subsequent referendum campaign on the GFA in May 1998 Maginnis actively campaigned for a 'Yes' vote. Later he was also to prove a prominent defender of the approach taken by his leader in the face of internal party criticism and in particular over the decision to participate in a power sharing Executive with Sinn Fein (SF) without complete decommissioning by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Prior to the 2001 Westminster general election Maginnis announced his intention to retire as an MP and later in 2001 after receiving a life peerage took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Maginnis of Drumglass.

Book References:

Cochrane, Feargal. (2001), Unionist Politics and the Politics of Unionism since the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Cork: Cork University Press.
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Hennessey, Thomas. (2000), The Northern Ireland Peace Process: Ending the Troubles? London: Gill & Macmillan.
McRedmond, Louis. (ed.) (1998), Modern Irish Lives: Dictionary of 20th-century Biography. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.

Web Sources:

[Entry written by B.Lynn - 30 March 2003]