James Leslie (British politician)

James Seymour Leslie (1 March 1958 – 22 February 2009)[1] was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

For the early 20th-century Ulster Unionist politician, see James Graham Leslie.

James Leslie
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for North Antrim
In office
25 June 1998 – 26 November 2003
Preceded byNew Creation
Succeeded byMervyn Storey
Personal details
Born(1958-03-01)1 March 1958
Singida, Tanzania
Died22 February 2009(2009-02-22) (aged 50)
Costa Rica
Political partyConservative
Ulster Unionist (Until 2006)
Spouse(s)Judena
Relations1
Alma materQueens' College, Cambridge

Born in Singida, Tanzania, and educated at Eton College, Leslie read law and land economy at Queens' College, Cambridge, before becoming a merchant banker. In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in North Antrim.[2] Despite having no experience in politics, he was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim in 1998.[3]

Leslie did not stand in the 2003 Assembly election. In 2006, he resigned from the UUP and joined the Conservatives in Northern Ireland.[4] In the same year, he was appointed High Sheriff of Antrim.[5]

Leslie stood for the Conservatives in North Down at the 2007 Assembly election, but was not elected. He died aged 50 on 22 February 2009, of a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Costa Rica.[1][6]

References
  1. "RIP.ie - Death notice". RIP.ie. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
  2. Northern Ireland elections
  3. Biography - James Leslie Archived 8 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Northern Ireland Assembly
  4. "Senior UUP man defects to Tories", BBC News, 21 September 2006
  5. "No. 6730". The Belfast Gazette. 30 December 2005. p. 1.
  6. "Former minister dies on holiday", BBC News, 23 February 2009
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly MLA for Antrim North
1998–2003		 Succeeded by
Mervyn Storey
Political offices
Preceded by
Dermot Nesbitt		 Junior Minister
2002		 Vacant
Office suspended
Title next held by
Ian Paisley Jr.
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