Margaret Mary Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (born 25 March 1958 in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...

), is an Irish

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

who was the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2010 to 2011. She was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2012, and was the Minister for Social Development in the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ...

from 2007 to 2010. Ritchie was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for South Down from 2010 to 2017. She became a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

in 2019 initially as a non-affiliated member, and then from October 2021 as a Labour member.

Political career

Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick is a graduate of

The Queen's University of 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 served as parliamentary assistant to Eddie McGrady, MP, from 1987 to 2003. Ritchie became a councillor on Down District Council in 1985 and was Vice-Chairman (1992–93) and Chairman of the Council (1993–1994). She has also served as International Secretary of the SDLP and as an alternate member of the European Committee of the Regions. She was nominated as the Social Development Minister in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = S ...

by the SDLP which took effect on 8 May 2007. Ritchie served as the sole SDLP minister in the Paisley/Robinson-McGuinness

up to 2010.

Leadership

She became the leader of the SDLP, succeeding

Mark Durkan Mark Durkan (born 26 June 1960) is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002, and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour ...

on 7 February 2010, and was elected MP for South Down on 6 May 2010. On

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in ...

2010, Ritchie became the first leader of an Irish nationalist party to wear a remembrance poppy. She wore it at the wreath-laying ceremony at the

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

. In Northern Ireland, the wearing of poppies is controversial as it is seen by many as a political symbol representing support for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. Because of this, it has long been the preserve of the unionist/

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...

community. She received praise from several unionist councillors for this. In December 2010 she launched a verbal attack on

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...

by urging voters in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

not to vote for Sinn Féin in the next Irish general election, describing their politics as 'sectarian' and causing 'division'. A

spokesperson described the comments as "nonsense" and "an attempt to score cheap points". In 2011, she voted against the military intervention in Libya. In the

2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 5 May, following the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly at midnight on 24 March 2011. It was the fourth election to take place since the devolved assembly was establis ...

, the SDLP lost two seats and saw its vote decline by 1%. On 27 July 2011 it was reported that she faced a leadership challenge from deputy leader Patsy McGlone. '' The Phoenix'' reported that only one MLA,

Alex Attwood Alexander Gerard Attwood (born 26 April 1959) is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician, who served as Minister for Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2011 to 2013. Atwood served as a Member of the Leg ...

, was prepared to back her and that "she will be humiliated if she puts her leadership to a vote". She stepped down in November 2011. In a leaked US diplomatic cable, Ritchie was branded "wooden" and had her leadership of the SDLP questioned. Also she was considered to be burdened "with what some deem an unpleasant speaking voice" and lacking the "political muscle and business acumen" to rebuild the SDLP. Ritchie announced when leaving the leadership of the SDLP that she would also vacate her seat in the

in order to concentrate on her role as a Member of Parliament, and the SDLP subsequently selected retired headteacher Seán Rodgers to replace her at Stormont. She submitted a letter of resignation to the Assembly at the end of February 2012, to take effect on 31 March.

Post-leadership

Ritchie spoke to senior

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank ( ga, Banc Uladh) is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities: NatWest, National Westminster Ban ...

officials to emphasise the need for them to fully reimburse customers following their computer failure in 2012, saying: "Many customers are still experiencing difficulties with Ulster Bank in that they haven't been fully reimbursed for the money they lost as a result of the bank's computer system failure. This has been compounded by a complete lack of communication from the bank throughout the difficulties their customers have been experiencing." She lost her seat in the

2017 UK General election The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing C ...

to the

candidate,

Chris Hazzard Chris Hazzard (born 20 August 1984) is an Irish politician from Sinn Féin who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down since the 2017 United Kingdom general election, when he defeated incumbent Margaret Ritchie of the Social D ...

Peerage

On 10 September 2019 it was announced that Ritchie had accepted a

age as part of Theresa May's resignation honours list. Ritchie was created The Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, of

in the County of Down, on 16 October 2019. Due to the SDLP policy of not supporting appointments to the House of Lords, Ritchie resigned from the SDLP and decided to take a non-affiliated position in the chamber. However, on 20 October 2021, she joined the Labour Party and now sits as a Labour member.

References

External links

*
Margaret Ritchie's Website

Stratagem profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Margaret 1958 births Living people 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Leaders of the Social Democratic and Labour Party Members of Down District Council Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Down constituencies (since 1922) Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 People from Downpatrick Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Social Democratic and Labour Party MPs (UK) UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs who were granted peerages Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive Women councillors in Northern Ireland Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Labour Party (UK) life peers