Ken Robinson (born 1942) was a former

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

(UUP) politician who was 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 East Antrim from 1998 to 2011.

Education

He was educated at

Ballyclare High School Ballyclare High School is a co-educational, non-denominational grammar school in Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. There are approximately 1,200 pupils at the school, taught by around 80 teachers. History The school was opened in th ...

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

and Stranmillis College. Before entering politics, he was Head of Cavehill Primary School.

Political career

Robinson was a former

Newtownabbey Borough Council Newtownabbey Borough Council was a Local Authority in County Antrim in Northern Ireland, on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of Belfast. The Council merged with Antrim Borough Council in April 2015 under local government r ...

lor (1985–1993 and 1995–1997). He has served as both Mayor (1991–1992) and Deputy-Mayor, and was Vice Chair of the Economic Development Committee (1995–1998). He was first elected an MLA in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, and re-elected in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. He was a member of the Committee of the Centre and the Education Committee in the 1998–2003 Assembly. Robinson was a member of the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Committee on Procedures until his retirement from Stormont in March 2011. This followed on from his announcement in September 2010 that he was not seeking re-selection from the Ulster Unionist East Antrim Constituency Association. On 20 September 2010, he announced his retirement from the Assembly, telling his constituency association in East Antrim that he would not be putting his name forward for next years assembly elections.

References

External links

UUP website

Stratagem profile

Ken Robinson website
1942 births Living people Politicians from County Antrim Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Members of Newtownabbey Borough Council Place of birth missing (living people) People educated at Ballyclare High School Alumni of Stranmillis University College Mayors of Newtownabbey {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub