David Burnside
David Wilson Boyd Burnside (born 24 August 1951) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2001 to 2005.
David Burnside | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Legislative Assembly for South Antrim | |
| In office 26 November 2003 – 1 June 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Duncan Shipley-Dalton |
| Succeeded by | Danny Kinahan |
| Member of Parliament for South Antrim | |
| In office 7 June 2001 – 11 April 2005 | |
| Preceded by | William McCrea |
| Succeeded by | William McCrea |
| Majority | 1,011 (2.3%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David Wilson Boyd Burnside 24 August 1951 Ballymoney, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
| Profession | Businessman |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Unit | Ulster Defence Regiment |
Burnside was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 2003 to 2009.
In the 1970s Burnside served as Press Officer for the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, and he unsuccessfully contested North Antrim for the party at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election. After the collapse of Vanguard he joined the Ulster Unionist Party, 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 consultant based in London which led him to set up his own PR company. He also served in the Ulster Defence Regiment.
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, 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 by Lord Lisvane in the House of Lords on 9 October 2018, when it received a formal first reading. The Bill has been described by the BBC as "one to watch" in the current Parliament.