Arlene Foster
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Arlene Isabel Foster (née Kelly) (b. July 1970) is a Northern Irish unionist politician. She is one of two Democratic Unionist Party MLAs representing the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly alongside Maurice Morrow). In addition, she is a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board and a councillor on Fermanagh District Council representing Enniskillen. A solicitor by profession, she currently practices in Portadown, County Armagh.
Foster was raised near Lisnaskea in County Fermanagh. Her experience with the Troubles began early in her life. A bomb was discovered under a bus she was travelling to school in. A night-time attempt was made to shoot her father, a Royal Ulster Constabulary reservist, at her home.
She was educated at Queen's University, Belfast where she graduated with a LLB degree. It was at Queen's University where her political career began after joining the Queen's Ulster Unionist Party Association. She served as the association's chairwoman from 1992 to 1993. After leaving Queen's University, she remained active in the Ulster Unionist Party, chairing its youth wing, the Ulster Young Unionist Council, in 1995. In 1996, she became an Honorary Secretary of the UUP's ruling body, the Ulster Unionist Council, a position which she held until her resignation from the UUP on December 18, 2003. She joined the DUP on January 5, 2004. On March 14, 2006 she was nominated to the Northern Ireland Policing Board as one of the DUP's four appointees to the body.
She was elected as an Ulster Unionist in the 2003 Assembly elections, but shortly afterwards resigned from the party and joined the DUP, together with fellow Assembly members Jeffrey Donaldson and Norah Beare. She was selected as the DUP's candidate for Fermanagh & South Tyrone in the United Kingdom general election, 2005. Negotiations took place between the local branches of the DUP and UUP with the aim of finding an agreed unionist candidate. The negotiations broke down with neither party willing to accept the electoral dominance of the other; the UUP claiming Foster's defection to the DUP disguised the reality of the UUP's electoral strength, whilst the DUP pointed to change in the unionist political landscape following the 2003 Assembly election and 2004 European Parliament election. The UUP candidate was Tom Elliott. Foster finished second in the 2005 general election with 14,056 votes, 4,582 short of unseating the incumbent Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew.
Foster is married and has two children. She is a contributor to the political magazine Fortnight.
Categories: 1970 births | Living people | Alumni of Queen's University, Belfast | Anglican politicians | Natives of County Fermanagh | Democratic Unionist Party politicians | Ulster Unionist Party politicians | Northern Irish Anglicans | Northern Irish lawyers | Lawyers | Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly | Councillors in Northern Ireland
