David Ford

David Ford (born February 24, 1951, Orpington, Kent, England) is a Northern Irish politician who served as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI; 2001–16) and justice minister of Northern Ireland (2010–16).

Ford grew up in Orpington, in southeastern England, and first dabbled in politics when he was just age 11, passing out literature for the Liberal Party prior to a 1962 by-election. Although English by birth, Ford had extensive family ties to Northern Ireland, and he moved there permanently in 1969. He attended Queen’s University Belfast, earning a degree in economics, and joined the fledgling Alliance Party while still a student. He became a social worker in 1973, and he remained active in the Alliance Party over the next two decades.

In 1989 Ford campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat on the Antrim borough council, and he entered politics full-time as the Alliance Party’s general secretary the following year. In 1993 he won the seat on the Antrim borough council that had eluded him four years earlier. In 1997 he contested unsuccessfully the South Antrim seat in the British House of Commons. Ford’s stature within the party continued to rise, and he represented the Alliance Party at the multiparty talks that led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement) in 1998. That accord led to the creation of a devolved government in Northern Ireland, and Ford was elected to represent the constituency of South Antrim in the newly created legislature, the Northern Ireland Assembly. A poor showing for the Alliance Party in the 2001 general election led to the resignation of party leader Sean Neeson, and Ford handily won the subsequent leadership contest.

As leader of the party, Ford embodied its pragmatic centrist principles. He championed the devolved government, going so far as to briefly designate himself a unionist to prevent the collapse of David Trimble’s government in November 2001. Ford also presided over a period of improving electoral fortunes for the Alliance Party as it preserved its six legislative seats in 2003 and picked up a seventh seat in 2007. In addition, in the British general election of 2010, the Alliance Party won its first seat in the British House of Commons. After almost four decades under British control, justice and policing powers were returned to Northern Ireland in April 2010. Both Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party supported Ford as a compromise candidate to oversee the devolved powers, and he was appointed justice minister on April 12, 2010.

Ford ended his tenure as justice minister after the May 2016 election for the Northern Ireland Assembly (in which the Alliance Party held on to its eight seats), announcing that his party would not be in a position to again accept the justice ministry. In October he resigned as party leader, saying, “With my 15th anniversary, I felt it the most appropriate time to step aside and pass the reins to a new generation of leadership for the party.” He was replaced by Naomi Long. In 2018 Ford retired from the Northern Ireland Assembly.