Michael Andrew Long is a Northern Irish politician who served as the 80th Lord Mayor of Belfast from 9 May 2022 to 1 June 2022, finishing the remaining three weeks of Kate Nicholl's term after she was elected to 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 ...

in May 2022. He is married to leader of the Alliance Party and MLA for Belfast East

Naomi Long Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive from January 2020 to October 2022. She has served as leader of the Alliance Party ...

Early life and education

Michael Long was born in Kingston,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in Canada to mother Elaine and father Adrian.

Political career

Member of Belfast City Council (2014-)

In May 2014, Long was elected to

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the l ...

to represent the constituency of Lisnasharragh. Long would become the leader of Alliance in Belfast City Council.

Lord Mayor of Belfast (2022)

In May 2022, incumbent Lord Mayor of Belfast Kate Nicholl was elected as an Alliance MLA for Belfast South. Her term was due to end on 1 June but was cut short due to rules prohibiting double-jobbing that forbid her from remaining as Lord Mayor of Belfast after being elected to the Assembly. Michael Long was installed as the 80th Lord Mayor of Belfast on 9 May 2022 to serve the remaining three weeks in Nicholl's term. Long's three-week tenure made him the shortest serving Lord Mayor of Belfast. He is also the first spouse of a former Lord Mayor of Belfast to also serve in the post. Long's wife Naomi held the position from June 2009 to June 2010. When Long was installed as Lord Mayor on 9 May 2022, he spoke in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and said that his predecessor was an "inspiration". Following on from Kate Nicholl, who was born in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, Long was the second Lord Mayor of Belfast in a row to be foreign-born. On 1 June 2022, Long was succeeded by Tina Black of

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 ...

as Lord Mayor of Belfast.

Personal life

Long met his wife Naomi when they were teenagers and they married in 1995. On 23 April 2022, Long's father

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin language, Latin given name Adrianus (given name), Adrianus or Hadrianus (disambiguation), Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria (river), Adria from the Venetic language, Venetic and ...

, a civil engineer, died. His funeral was held on 5 May, the same day as the 2022 Assembly election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Michael Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Kingston, Ontario Lord Mayors of Belfast 21st-century politicians from Northern Ireland Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politicians