Paisley to stand down as Euro MP

Ian Paisley will quit the European Parliament in June, he announced today.

Mr Paisley, who has topped a poll in Northern Ireland in every European Parliament election, confirmed at Stormont he would not be seeking re-election.

The DUP leader will remain the MP and Assembly member for North Antrim and will head his party’s talks team and review of the Good Friday Agreement on February 3.

The decision will mark the end of a colourful 25-year career in the European Parliament.

After receiving almost 30% of the overall Northern Ireland vote in the 1979 European election, he became the first MEP to speak in the Parliament when he protested that the Union Flag was flying upside down.

The DUP leader also interrupted the speech of the then Taoiseach Jack Lynch to complain about his government’s refusal to sign the European Convention on Terrorism.

In 1988, Mr Paisley faced angry objections from MEPs and was ejected from the European Parliament when he interrupted an address by Pope John Paul II.