John Alderdice, Baron Alderdice

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The Right Honourable  John Thomas Alderdice  The Lord Alderdice of Knock
President of Liberal International
In office 2005 – 2009
Preceded by	Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
Succeeded by	Hans van Baalen
1st Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
In office 1998 – 2004
Deputy	Sir John Gorman
Preceded by	New position
Succeeded by	Eileen Bell
Leader of the Alliance Party
In office 1987 – 1998
Deputy	Gordon Mawhinney/Seamus Close
Preceded by	John Cushnahan
Succeeded by	Séan Neeson
Born	28 March 1955 (1955-03-28) (age 54)
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Other political affiliations	Alliance Party
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Religion	Christian - Presbyterian

John Thomas Alderdice, Baron Alderdice of Knock (born 28 March, 1955) is a Northern Ireland politician. He was Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1998-2004, leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat.

Alderdice was born to the Rev. David Alderdice and Annie Margaret Helena Shields. He was educated at Ballymena Academy and the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB). In 1977, he married Joan Hill, with whom he had two sons and one daughter. He has worked as a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy since 1988. He has also lectured at Queen's University's Faculty of Medicine.

The Alliance Party was formed in 1970 as an alternative to sectarian politics. Alderdice became its leader ahead of the 1987 general election and contested Belfast East for the party. He received 32.0% of the vote, the highest percentage ever achieved by Alliance in an individual seat in a Westminster election, losing to Peter Robinson, while still firmly establishing Alliance on the political map. In 1988, in Alliance's keynote post-Anglo Irish Agreement document, "Governing with Consent", Alderdice called for a devolved power-sharing government based on a voluntary coalition elected by a qualified majority vote. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Alliance's vote stabilised at between 7% and 10%.

Alderdice once again contested Belfast East in the 1992 general election. He led the Alliance Delegation to the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation at Dublin Castle and the Northern Ireland Multiparty Talks, and was a member of the Northern Ireland Forum.

He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East in 1998 and became the Assembly's first speaker, serving until 2004, although the Assembly had been suspended for much of that time. Alderdice was a Belfast City Councillor from 1989 until 1997. He resigned as party leader to take the position of Speaker. He has been a member of the Independent Monitoring Commission since 2003.

Alderdice was created a life peer in 1996 as Baron Alderdice, of Knock in the City of Belfast. He sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat. He was elected president of Liberal International in 2005 and served until Liberal International's Cairo congress in 2009. He was succeeded by Dutch politician Hans van Baalen.

Alderdice has been awarded several honours: the John F Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award in 1998; the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award in 1998; the Silver Medal of Congress of Peru in 1999 and 2004; the Medal of Honour, College of Medicine of Peru in 1999; and the Freedom of the City of Baltimore in 1991. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland [1].

He is also a regular visitor to Geneva in Switzerland, where he enjoys historical walking tours.

See also

• List of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Lords

External links

• Lord Alderdice profile at the site of Liberal Democrats