David Ford: Alliance Party

David Ford is a member of the currently-suspended Northern Ireland Assembly and has been leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland since 2001.

David Ford is a member of the currently-suspended Northern Ireland Assembly and has been leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland since 2001.

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He was born to mixed Northern Irish and Welsh parents on February 24, 1951, and grew up in Kent, England. He permanently shifted to Northern Ireland in 1969 following his admission at the Queen's University of Belfast.

Ford took up full-time politics only in 1990 when be became general secretary of the Alliance Party. He was then known as an ardent follower of John Alderdice. He was elected to Antrim Borough Council in 1993 though initially he was unsuccessful to win the election in 1989.

Following Alderdice's successor, Sean Neeson, resignation in 2001, Ford easily won the leadership election, defeating his present deputy Eileen Bell. From then onwards he has ceaselessly crusaded demanding improvement in railway network and also agricultural issues.

Ford has played a considrable role in stabilising the struggling base of the Alliance Party.