Jonathan Buckley (born 1 January 1992) is a

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

(DUP) politician who has been a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...

(MLA) for Upper Bann since 2017.

Early life

Buckley grew up outside

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

, where he still lives today.

Political career

Buckley has been a member of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

(MLA) for Upper Bann since 2017. He succeeded retiring veteran legislator Sydney Anderson. During the campaign, he publicly exhorted voters in the constituency to vote and to transfer to other Unionist candidates. He was declared the winner on 3 March 2017. This made Buckley the youngest elected representative for the DUP. In October 2021 Buckley voted against ‘safe zones’ outside abortion clinics, saying the move which supporters claim is designed to protect women from physical and verbal harassment was “regressive”. In May 2022, Buckley admitted that he was "surprised" to learn that he had been nominated by Anne Donaghy's office for an MBE for "political and public service".

Personal life

Outside of politics, Buckley is involved in pigeon racing. On 1 July 2022, Buckley married Jill Porter in

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

References

1991 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Councillors in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub