Stephen Ronald Aiken (born 16 June 1962) is a Northern Irish politician, who served as Leader 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 m ...

(UUP) from 2019 to 2021, and was Chief Whip of the UUP from 2017 to 2019. Aiken 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 South Antrim since

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Early life and education

Steve was born in South Antrim, attended Thompson Primary School, Ballyrobert, and then was educated at

Belfast High School Belfast High School (BHS) is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was established in 1854 and is within the North Eastern Region of the Education Authority. In May 2007, ...

. During his naval career he undertook further study at King's College London (MA Defence Studies, 2001) and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

(MPhil, 2013; PhD, 2016

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

). He joined the Sea Cadets in 1982 based at

HMS Caroline (1914) HMS ''Caroline'' is a decommissioned light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw combat service in the First World War and served as an administrative centre in the Second World War. ''Caroline'' was launched and commissioned in 1914. At the ...

, which remains in its original dock as a Museum Ship.

Military career

Aiken served for 32 years in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

as a submariner, ultimately in many senior operational roles, including commanding two nuclear-powered submarines, being Joint Plans Officer for operations in the Middle-East in 2002-04 (for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)). At the end of his service in the Royal Navy, following a weekend of 'retirement', he became the founding CEO of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, a post he held for three years during which time he lived in Dublin with his young family.

Political career

Steve Aiken Ballyclare constituency office

When Robin Swann MLA announced his sudden resignation as leader of the

in 2019, Aiken stood for the leadership. He was elected unopposed as leader in November 2019 and led the party through difficult periods addressing concerns about Brexit, the Protocol and pandemic. He promptly opted for the UUP to take the Ministry of Health Department, when no other party would take it, and appointed Mr Swann MLA as Minister. He announced his resignation as leader eighteen months later, in May 2021, with the BBC citing "frustration" with his leadership within the party, and a conviction that change was needed. He was succeeded by

Doug Beattie Douglas Ricardo Beattie (born 13 October 1965) is a Northern Irish politician and former member of the British Army, who has been leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) since 27 May 2021. He has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assemb ...

. In October 2021 Aiken was reselected to be a UUP candidate for South Antrim in the

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three month ...

, alongside Paul Michael. He was reelected in the May 2022 poll.

Current positions

* Chairperson, Committee for Finance of the Northern Ireland Assembly * Chairperson, All Party Group for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) * Chairperson, All Party Group for Ethnic Minorities * Member, All Party Group for Climate Action * Board member, Christian Aid Ireland

References

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly profileUlster Unionist Party profile
1962 births Living people Royal Navy officers People educated at Belfast High School Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Officers of the Order of the British Empire Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub