Ian James Parsley (born 3 May 1977) is a businessman and former, part-time politician from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. He was the Alliance Party candidate at the 2009 European elections, and served as Deputy Mayor of North Down. He attracted considerable criticism and caused much controversy by endorsing the Conservatives and Unionistslink-up in 2009, but subsequently rejoined the Alliance Party in 2011. He is an outspoken opponent of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...

Background

Although of Northern Irish heritage on his mother's side, Parsley was born in Yorkshire and educated at

Merchant Taylors' School Merchant Taylors' School may refer to: *Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood (founded 1561), is a British independent school originally located in the City of London and now located in Northwood in Middlesex . * Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosb ...

and

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

, graduating in Modern Languages. Parsley currently works in public relations, as a media commentator on languages, welfare reform and football, and is a Director of

Northern Ireland Screen Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agency's purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, animation and television production industry.About Us > Overview Northern Ireland Screen website, ...

. He was also Chair of the European Movement in Northern Ireland.

Other activities

Parsley was a writer in and about

Ulster Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to: * Ulster Scots people * Ulster Scots dialect Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots (', ga, Albainis Uladh), also known as Ulster Scotch and Ullans, is the dialect of Scots language, Scots spoken in parts of Ulster in North ...

and, despite having run against her at the

2010 UK general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom un ...

, he has campaigned alongside

Sylvia Hermon Sylvia Eileen, Lady Hermon (née Paisley; born 11 August 1955) is a retired Unionist politician from Northern Ireland. She served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of North Down from 2001 to 2019. She was first elected fo ...

on support for people with

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

and their carers.

Personal life

Parsley has been married to Alliance MLA for Belfast South

Paula Bradshaw Paula Jane Bradshaw (born 1 November 1972) is an Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician. She has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast since the 2016 election. Early life and career Bradshaw atte ...

since 2011. He is an avid Arsenal FC fan and an expert on Western European languages, a subject about which he often writes.

Background

Other activities

Personal life

References

Further reading