Pauline Armitage is a former Northern Irish unionist politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry from 1998 to 2003.

Pauline Armitage
Mayor of Coleraine
In office
1995–1997
Preceded byDavid McClarty
Succeeded byJames McClure
Member of Coleraine Borough Council
In office
15 May 1985 – 5 May 2005
Preceded byDistrict created
Succeeded bySandy Gilkinson
ConstituencyThe Skerries
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for East Londonderry
In office
25 June 1998 – 26 November 2003
Preceded byNew Creation
Succeeded byGeorge Robinson
Personal details
BornColeraine, Northern Ireland
Political partyUlster Unionist Party (1969-2003)
Other political
affiliations
UK Unionist Party (2003-2005)

Background

edit

Based in Coleraine, Armitage joined the Young Unionists in 1969. She served in the Ulster Defence Regiment before being elected to Coleraine Borough Council for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1985. She served as the Mayor of Coleraine from 1995 to 1997.

In 1996 she was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in East Londonderry.[1] In 1998, Armitage was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, representing East Londonderry. In this session of the Assembly, she occasionally voted against the party line, supporting a Democratic Unionist Party motion for Sinn Féin MLAs to be excluded from the Executive. In November 2001, she was suspended from the UUP, at the same time that Peter Weir was expelled from the party, after the two voted against party leader David Trimble's re-appointment as First Minister.[2][3]

Armitage sat as an independent Unionist for the remainder of the session. In June 2003, she resigned her membership of the UUP,[4] quickly joining the UK Unionist Party (UKUP).[5] She stood unsuccessfully for the UKUP in East Londonderry at the 2003 Assembly election, taking only 906 votes.

References

edit
  1. ^ Northern Ireland elections
  2. ^ "Party moves against rebels". BBC News. 10 November 2001.
  3. ^ "BBC News: Pauline Armitage: Dissenting ex-soldier". 2 November 2001. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  4. ^ "David Trimble faces hardline challenge". RTÉ News. 12 June 2003. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  5. ^ "::: U.tv :::". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
edit
Civic offices
Preceded by Mayor of Coleraine
1995–1997
Succeeded by
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly MLA for Londonderry, East
1998–2003
Succeeded by