Paisley's wife made working life peer

The wife of Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley was today among the first three peers ever to be appointed from his party.

Eileen Paisley will join former Stormont minister Maurice Morrow and the Lord Mayor of Belfast Wallace Browne on the benches of the House of Lords.

Former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was also among 23 working life peers nominated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders today.

The former Stormont First Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has had a low public profile since quitting as Ulster Unionist leader last May.

His resignation followed spectacular losses in last year’s general and local government elections, particularly to the DUP including his own House of Commons seat in Upper Bann.

Since it became the North’s largest party in the 2003 Assembly elections, the DUP has pressed the British government hard for seats in the House of Lords, arguing it was unfair that the Ulster Unionists had so many.

Pressure grew on the British government to agree to DUP peerages after the party took nine seats in the general elections while the Ulster Unionists slumped to just one.

Prior to Mr Trimble’s appointment, the UUP had eight peers: Lords Rogan, Molyneaux, Kilcloney, Maginnis, Laird, Ballyedmond, Cooke and Viscount Brookeborough.

Baroness Paisley’s elevation to the House of Lords is not her first foray into frontline politics.

She is a former member of Belfast City Council and is a vice-president of her husband’s party.

However, she is best known for steadfastly supporting her husband, who turned 80 last Thursday, throughout a political career in Belfast, Westminster and Strasbourg and in his role as the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church.

Her son, Ian Jr, is an Assembly member for North Antrim and a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

DUP chairman Maurice Morrow has been an Assembly member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 1998 and served as the Social Development Minister for over a year during the last period of devolution.

He has been a member of Dungannon District Council since 1973.

Wallace Browne became the Lord Mayor of Belfast last May, becoming the first person in the DUP to hold the post for four years.

The Lord Mayor has been a member of the DUP since 1979 and has been a councillor since 2000.