Reg Empey

Sir Reginald Empey (born October 26 1947) is a Northern Ireland politician and Ulster Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly for East Belfast.

Empey attended Hillcrest Preparatory School, Belfast and the Royal School, Armagh before graduating with an Economics degree from Queen's University of Belfast. After this he built up a successful business career.

He first entered politics in the late 1960s when he joined the Young Unionist Council. Along with many other young Unionists he became an early member of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, serving as the party chairman in 1975. When Vanguard split during the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, Empey joined the breakaway group who formed the United Ulster Unionist Party, serving as the party's Deputy Leader from 1977 until the party's disolution in 1982. After this Empey joined the Ulster Unionist Party and was elected to Belfast City Council, serving as Lord Mayor in 1989-1990 and 1993-1994. During this period he built up a political base in East Belfast, though in 1995 he sought to become the Ulster Unionists' candidate for the 1995 by-election in North Down, however he was not selected by local party members.

Empey became increasingly prominent in the Ulster Unionists and was often a member of its negotiating teams throughout the 1990s and he became a key ally of David Trimble, leader of the party since 1995. Ironically Trimble had been Deputy Leader of Vanguard in the years after the divide. In 1996 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum from East Belfast and in 1998 and 2003 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

When the Northern Ireland Executive was formed in 1999, Empey became Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, holding the portfolio throughout the entirity of the Executive's existence. In June 2001 Trimble temporarily resigned as First Minister of Northern Ireland and appointed Empey to fulfil the functions of the office for the interim period until disagreements between the parties had been restored. Empey undertook the role until November of that year. In 1999 Empey was knighted.

As one of the most senior Ulster Unionists, Empey is often talked about as a potential future leader.