Thomas Beatty Elliott (born 11 December 1963) is an
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 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
Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2022, having previously served from 2003 to 2015. He 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 of ...
(MP) for
Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2015 to 2017, and was the leader of the UUP between 2010 and 2012.
He was a soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) from 1982 to 1992 and its successor the
Royal Irish Regiment from 1992 to 1999.
["Borderline fear: Brexit jitters awake past anxieties"](_blank)
''Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'', 7 November 2016; retrieved 8 June 2017. He backed a Leave vote in the 2016
EU membership referendum.
Education
Elliott received his primary and high school education in his native
Ballinamallard
Ballinamallard or Bellanamallard (Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 172. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,340 people in the 2001 Ce ...
. Later, he earned a College Certificate in Agriculture from the
Enniskillen
Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...
College of Agriculture.
Political
Elliott has been an activist in the Ballinamallard Ward
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) committee for many years and is chairman of that committee. He has also been Honorary Secretary of the
Fermanagh
Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of a ...
Divisional Unionist Association since 1998 and was chairman of the internal Ulster Unionist ad hoc Review Group for its duration.
In November 2003 he was elected as 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 ...
representing
Fermanagh and South Tyrone, a position to which he was re-elected in March 2007 and May 2011. In this role he served as Ulster Unionist Assembly spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Elliott was selected as the UUP candidate for
Fermanagh and South Tyrone UK Parliament constituency in the
2005 general election and came in third behind the
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 Gri ...
and
DUP candidates. The UUP share of the vote fell from 34% in 2001 to 18% in 2005.
He was reselected for the
2010 general election, but stood down in favour of independent Unionist candidate
Rodney Connor
Rodney Connor (born 25 March 1951) is a retired Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council in Northern Ireland and was a candidate for political office.
2000s
In 2000, Connor was appointed as Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council. In ...
. With the DUP, TUV, UKIP and the Conservatives not contesting the seat in 2015, Elliott, as the sole unionist candidate, won the seat at the 2015 election. He lost the seat in the 2017 general election, with 45.5% of the vote to 47.2% for Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew. He ran again in 2019, but lost to Gildernew by 57 votes, with 43.2% of the vote to Gildernew's 43.3%.
Elliott returned to the Assembly following the
2022 election, again representing Fermanagh and South Tyrone again. His running mate,
Rosemary Barton
Rosemary Barton (born May 31, 1976) is a Canadian political journalist, currently serving as the chief political correspondent for CBC. In this role, she anchors her own Sunday morning news show, '' Rosemary Barton Live'', hosted the "At Issu ...
, lost her seat while Elliott was successful in holding the UUP seat for the constituency.
Party leadership
In June 2010, Elliott announced his intention to run in the
2010 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election
An election for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was held on 22 September 2010.
Background
Following poor results in the 2005 general election, the UUP held a leadership election, in which Reg Empey was successful. Empey forme ...
. He was elected although not without some controversy. It emerged shortly before the leadership election that a quarter of the UUP membership came from
Fermanagh and South Tyrone, a disproportionately high figure. ''
The Phoenix'', an Irish political magazine, described Elliott as a "blast from the past" and that his election signified "a significant shift to the right" by the UUP.
In March 2012, he announced that he would step down as leader of the Ulster Unionists.
When asked about his reasoning, he said that "some people have not given
ima fair opportunity at developing and progressing many initiatives", going on to say that some of the hostility began immediately after he was selected as leader. He also accused some party members of making his job more difficult by briefing journalists.
His resignation triggered the
2012 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election
The election for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was held on 31 March 2012. The UUP holds an election for the office of Leader each year at its Annual General Meeting, which is normally returns the incumbent unopposed. The con ...
.
When Elliott took over the leadership of the UUP in 2010 the party had recently received 102,361 votes which amounted to 15.2% of the vote. In Elliott's first election in charge in the 2011 Assembly elections the UUP only received 87,531 votes which amounted to 13.2% of the vote and resulted in the party losing two of its MLAs. On the same day in 2011 the UUP also lost 16 of its Council seats.
Membership of the Loyal Orders
Elliott is a member of the
Orange Order within Fermanagh, the
Royal Black Preceptory
The Royal Black Institution, the Imperial Grand Black Chapter Of The British Commonwealth, or simply the Black Institution,wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Unsupported%20attributions">who?''/sup> argue is an Ulster syncretism of rit ...
and the Kesh branch of the
Apprentice Boys of Derry
The Apprentice Boys of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society with a worldwide membership of over 10,000, founded in 1814 and based in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. There are branches in Ulster and elsewhere in Ireland, Scotland, Engla ...
(ABOD).
Controversies
Elliott stated publicly that he wouldn't attend
gay pride
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to s ...
parades or
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...
matches, but did later meet with some gay rights groups and GAA figures in Northern Ireland.
After he was elected in the
2011 Assembly election, in his victory speech in
Omagh
Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 m ...
Elliott referred to the
Irish tricolour
The national flag of Ireland ( ga, bratach na hÉireann), frequently referred to in Ireland as 'the tricolour' () and elsewhere as the Irish tricolour is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white and orange. The proportions of the ...
as a "flag of a foreign nation". When the audience started heckling him, he went on to describe nationalist supporters holding Irish flags as "the scum of Sinn Féin". Although initially refusing to retract his comment he later issued an apology "to all those good nationalists, republicans, even Sinn Fein voters who felt offended by it."
In August 2012, Elliott opposed money being spent on public inquests into people killed by the British Army and
loyalist paramilitaries during
the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
. He urged relatives of those killed by the IRA—whom he called "the real victims"—to band together to "choke the system up" and stop such inquests happening. He later clarified his remarks saying "At no stage did I suggest or infer that anyone killed in the Troubles, who was not murdered by the IRA, were 'not real victims'".
In February 2016, Elliott was criticised when he provided a statement to a court on behalf of a convicted benefit cheat. The judge in the case said he received a letter from a "senior politician" that spoke "glowingly" of the convicted man's work in the voluntary sector. Elliott denied it was a character reference. That same month, he was criticised by a judge for writing a testimonial for a man convicted for driving while disqualified. Although not naming Elliott in court he said he "crossed the line of the independence of the court" and "trespassed on the sentencing process."
Elliott settled a defamation case with Attorney General
John Larkin by issuing a statement through his barrister and donating an undisclosed sum of money to charity. Under the terms of the settlement the following statement was read out by Elliott's senior counsel:
"On 20 April 2016, during the course of a live debate on the Stephen Nolan BBC Radio Ulster show, Mr Elliott made a number of statements which may have been taken to imply that the attorney general, John Larkin, had failed to discharge his professional duties impartially and with fairness. Mr Elliott wishes to confirm that he did not intend to impugn the integrity of Mr Larkin or for any such inferences to be taken from his statements. Mr Elliott regrets any embarrassment which this may have caused Mr Larkin."
References
External links
Northern Ireland Assembly profileUlster Unionist Party profile
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Tom
1963 births
Anglicans from Northern Ireland
Members of Fermanagh District Council
Farmers from Northern Ireland
Leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party
Living people
Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007
Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011
Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016
People from County Fermanagh
Royal Irish Regiment (1992) soldiers
UK MPs 2015–2017
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (since 1950)
Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers
Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Ulster Unionist Party MLAs
Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027