Robert Simpson (Northern Ireland politician)

Robert Simpson (3 July 1923 – 8 April 1997), often known as Bob Simpson was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Early life and education

Born in Ballymena, Simpson studied medicine at Queen's University Belfast before setting up his own practice.

Political career

He joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1952, and was selected as the party's candidate for Mid Antrim. He won the seat, unopposed, at the 1953 Northern Ireland general election, and held it at each election thereafter, not facing a single opponent until 1969.[1]

A strong support of Terence O'Neill's reforms, Simpson was appointed briefly as Additional Parliamentary Secretary in the Department of the Prime Minister, and then as the first Minister for Community Relations in late 1969.[2] He resigned from the freemasons and from the Orange Order in an attempt to appear impartial. In the role, he organised a series of dinner parties with attendees from both nationalist and unionist backgrounds, and through these developed a friendship with Seamus Heaney.[1]

When Brian Faulkner became Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1971, Simpson was removed from his ministerial post and,[1] the following year, Simpson resigned from the UUP.[3] He spent the remainder of his life writing on medicine, agriculture and travel, developing an arboretum and organising the Ballymena Music Festival.[1]

gollark: Apple does have a really good CPU design team, at least.
gollark: Isn't that just survivorship bias?
gollark: I mean, a fridge with a touchscreen on the front so you can browse the web is *not* very useful. A fridge which can automatically track its inventory and remind you to order new things actually might be.
gollark: It'll probably mature eventually, but still.
gollark: It's a shame, too, since all this stuff could have been extremely cool, but ended up proprietary, poorly integrated, insecure and gimmicky.

References
  1. Roy Bradford, "Obituary: Dr Robert Simpson", The Independent, 29 April 1997
  2. The Government of Northern Ireland
  3. Simon Hoggart, "Another Ulster Unionist quits", The Guardian, 10 October 1972
Parliament of Northern Ireland
Preceded by
Robert Nicol Wilson		 Member of Parliament for Mid Antrim
1953–1973		 Succeeded by
Parliament abolished
Political offices
Preceded by
New office		 Additional Private Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister (Northern Ireland)
1969		 Succeeded by
Office abolished
Preceded by
New office		 Minister for Community Relations
1969–1971		 Succeeded by
David Bleakley
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