The Rt Hon. Robin John Bailie,

PC (NI) PC or pc may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Player character or playable character, a fictional character controlled by a human player, usually in role-playing games or computer games * ''Port Charles'', an American daytime TV soap opera * ...

(born 6 March 1937), is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

and former

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, a ...

Biography

Bailie was born in

Toomebridge Toome or Toomebridge () is a small village and townland on the northwest corner of Lough Neagh in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies in the civil parish of Duneane in the former Barony (Ireland), barony of Toome Upper, and is in the Antr ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. He studied at the

Rainey Endowed School Rainey Endowed School, known colloquially as "The Rainey", is a voluntary grammar school in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The school was founded in 1713 and has an enrolment of around 700 pupils. Each year group has a tota ...

and

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 = ...

. He was a member of the Belfast Junior Chamber of Commerce,Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons
/ref> and an officer of the

Ulster Young Unionist Council The Young Unionists, formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council (UYUC), is the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004. History Attempts had been made in the 1920s to ...

.David Gordon, ''The O'Neill Years'' He was associated with the Clifton branch of the

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 ...

, and from about 1960, collaborated with other young branch members, including Bob Cooper in an association which has been compared to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Bow Group The Bow Group is a UK-based think tank promoting conservative opinion. Founded in 1951, it is the oldest group of its kind, counting many senior Conservative Party MPs and peers among its members. It represents a forum for political debate with i ...

. They represented the more liberal wing of the party, and in 1962 they launched a journal, ''Review'', although they were only able to publish a single issue.

Career

Bailie qualified as a

and was also active in business, becoming a council member of the Northern Ireland

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

and Industry. In 1962, he claimed that a majority of members of some

Orange Lodge The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots people, Ulster Sco ...

s in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

were

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

s and not Unionists.Bob Purdie, ''Politics in the Streets'' He was a supporter of

Terence O'Neill Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, PC (NI) (10 September 1914 – 12 June 1990), was the fourth prime minister of Northern Ireland and leader (1963–1969) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). A moderate unionist, who sought to ...

's reforms, believing that they had "taken the sting out of the community tension which was sapping the vigour of the province". While he was initially critical of O'Neill's approach to the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

(ICTU), he later claimed that O'Neill had "solved the problem of the ICTU". At the 1969 Northern Ireland general election, Bailie was elected as

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 of ...

for

Newtownabbey Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement in North Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of severa ...

. He was a prominent opponent of the People's Democracy movement, which he claimed was a revolutionary movement. On 25 March 1971, new

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive ...

appointed him

Minister of Commerce A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...

, and he served until the Parliament was prorogued in 1972. Bailie was also appointed to the

Privy Council of Northern Ireland The Privy Council of Northern Ireland is a formal body of advisors to the sovereign and was a vehicle for the monarch's prerogative powers in Northern Ireland. It was modelled on the Privy Council of Ireland. The council was created in 1922 as ...

at the same time. While serving in this post, he focussed on the possibilities that membership of the

Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

would offer Northern Ireland, and investigated the possibility of a cross-border development plan for the North West of Ireland. After prorogation, Faulkner maintained a "shadow" cabinet in which Bailie retained his post, but he resigned from the cabinet and the party in 1973 alongside Robert Porter, claiming that Faulkner was identifying too closely with the

Ulster Vanguard The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP), informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978. Led by William Craig, the party emerged from a split in the Ulster Unio ...

movement. Bailie joined the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, ...

, but retired from active politics.Henry Patterson and Eric Kauffman, ''Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945'' Out of politics, Bailie focussed on his career as a solicitor and held several directorships, including the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company (GB), Fine Wine Wholesalers and Lumnus Mackie.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailie, Robin 1937 births Living people Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politicians Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Solicitors from Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Politicians from County Antrim People educated at Rainey Endowed School Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Antrim constituencies