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David Wilson Boyd Burnside (born 24 August 1951) 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 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 South Antrim from 2001 to 2005. Burnside was also 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 from 2003 to 2009. In the 1970s Burnside served as Press Officer for the
Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party 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 ...
, and he unsuccessfully contested North Antrim for the party at the
1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. P ...
. After the collapse of Vanguard he joined 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 ...
, standing unsuccessfully in the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly but then took a back seat from politics for many years while working as a prominent
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
consultant based in London which led him to set up his own PR company. He also served in the
Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...
. Since 2015 he has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Constitution Reform Group (CRG), a cross-party pressure group chaired by
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury, Baron Gascoyne-Cecil, (born 30 September 1946), is a British Conservative politician. From 1979 to 1987 he represented South Dorset in the House of Commons, and in the 1990s he wa ...
, which seeks a new constitutional settlement in the UK. The Constitution Reform Group's Act of Union Bill 2018 was introduced as a
Private Member's Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
by
Lord Lisvane Robert James Rogers, Baron Lisvane, (born 5 February 1950) is a British life peer and retired public servant. He served as Clerk of the House of Commons from October 2011 until August 2014. Following his elevation as a Life Peer in 2014, Lord ...
in the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
on 9 October 2018, when it received a formal first reading. The Bill has been described by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as "one to watch" in the current Parliament.


British Airways

In 1984 Burnside was recruited by the
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
Chairman Lord King to become the company's head of
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
. In this role Burnside is widely acknowledged to have become one of the most powerful PR men in
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, speaking for King, administering a £5 million budget and receiving numerous PR awards both in the UK and around the world. His success is perhaps overshadowed by the nature of his departure. British Airways was witnessing the emergence of a potentially strong rival,
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...
's
Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and w ...
. Virgin, which began with one route and one
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
in 1984 was beginning to emerge as a serious threat on some of BA's most lucrative routes. Following Virgin's highly publicized mission of mercy to Iraq to fly home hostages who had been held by
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
in 1991, Lord King is reported to have told Burnside and CEO
Colin Marshall Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge (16 November 1933 – 5 July 2012), was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords. Early and family life Marshall was educated at University College School, an independent schoo ...
to "do something about Branson". This began the campaign of "dirty tricks", which ended in Branson suing King and British Airways for libel in 1992. King countersued Branson and the case went to trial in 1993. British Airways, faced with likely defeat, settled the case giving £500,000 to Branson and a further £110,000 to his airline; further, BA was to pay the legal fees of up to £3 million. It was an article written by Burnside (given legal clearance) in ''BA News'', the company's in house newsletter, that prompted Branson's legal action. Following the case Burnside was awarded a settlement of approximately £400,000 and free
first class travel First class is the most luxurious and most expensive travel class of seats and service on a train, passenger ship, airplane, bus, or other system of transport. Compared to business class and economy class, it offers the best service and most co ...
on BA for four years.


Return to politics

Along with several prominent current Ulster Unionist politicians, Burnside was a member of the Vanguard Movement. He was press officer for the organisation from 1974 to 1977. He was selected to defend the South Antrim constituency for the Ulster Unionists in a by-election in 2000, but narrowly lost to the
Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
candidate Rev. Willie McCrea. However he reversed this defeat in the 2001 general election. Along with
Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader ...
(MP) and the Rev.
Martin Smyth William Martin Smyth (born 15 June 1931) is a Northern Irish unionist politician, who served as the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast South from 1982 to 2005. He was a vice-president of the Conservative Monday ...
(MP), Burnside became an outspoken critic of his party leader,
David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was ...
's support for the
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
, arguing that the
Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
's slow pace of decommissioning its arms meant that
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 ...
, the political wing of the IRA, should not be allowed to serve in the power-sharing government. On 23 June 2003, Burnside, Donaldson and Smyth resigned the UUP whip in the House of Commons, launching a strong attack on Trimble's leadership. The trio successfully fought off attempts to discipline them using the courts and in November 2003 both Burnside and Donaldson were elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly. However, Burnside declined to follow Donaldson when he resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party in December 2003. In 2005 he lost his Westminster Parliamentary seat. Burnside successfully retained his Assembly seat in March 2007. He declined to contest the 2005 leadership election. Burnside resigned as an Assembly Member in June 2009 to concentrate on his business interests. His seat was taken by Antrim councillor
Danny Kinahan Daniel de Burgh Kinahan (born 14 April 1958) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2015 to 2017. Prior to his election as a Member of Parliament, Kinahan was a Member of the ...
. David Burnside was revealed to have taken a group of prominent Russians, including a close ally of Vladimir Putin, to the 2013 Conservative summer fundraising party and introduced them to David Cameron.


Rangers Football Club

Burnside was linked to a potential Rangers takeover in 2007"Burnside not put off Rangers bid"
BBC Sport,5 March 2007. but nothing came of it. There was not enough investment available for the move.


References


Sources

*Gregory, Martyn. ''Dirty Tricks: British Airways' Secret War Against Virgin Atlantic''. London: Virgin, 2000.
BBC Profile

Glasgow Rangers Burnside Article



External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnside, David 1951 births Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (since 1922) Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 UK MPs 2001–2005 Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party politicians British Airways people People from Ballymoney People educated at Coleraine Academical Institution Ulster Unionist Party MLAs