Gavin Robinson
Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
Assumed office
9 June 2023
LeaderJeffrey Donaldson
Preceded byPaula Bradley
Member of Parliament
for Belfast East
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byNaomi Long
Majority1,819 (4.3%)
69th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office
1 June 2012  1 June 2013
DeputyTierna Cunningham
Preceded byNiall Ó Donnghaile
Succeeded byMáirtín Ó Muilleoir
Member of the Belfast City Council
In office
2011–2015
Preceded bySammy Wilson
Succeeded byBrian Kennedy
ConstituencyPottinger (2011–2014)
Titanic (2014–2015)
Personal details
Born
Gavin James Robinson[1]

(1984-11-22) 22 November 1984
Belfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyDemocratic Unionist Party
SpouseLindsay
Children1
Alma materUlster University
ProfessionBarrister

Gavin James Robinson (born 22 November 1984) is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister, serving as Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2023, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast East in the UK House of Commons since the 2015 general election. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2012–2013.[2] Robinson is the DUP Spokesperson for Defence and Home Affairs.[3]

Career

Robinson is a lifelong East Belfast resident. He attended Grosvenor Grammar School in East Belfast, and then University of Ulster where obtained a degree in law and government, before attending Queen's University Belfast, where he attained a Masters in Irish Politics before commencing practice as a barrister. Raised a Presbyterian, he currently attends the Church of Ireland. He is married. Gavin Robinson is unrelated to former DUP leader and Belfast East MP Peter Robinson.[4]

Robinson was co-opted to Belfast City Council in March 2010 to replace Sammy Wilson in representing the Pottinger electoral area of South and East Belfast.[5] He was returned to the council as an alderman in the 2011 local elections and elected Lord Mayor by the council for the year beginning 1 June 2012. He was a member of the East Belfast District Policing and Community Safety Partnership subgroup and represented the council on the boards of the Ulster Orchestra and the 2013 World Police and Fire Games held in Belfast.

He won the constituency of Belfast East for the Democratic Unionist Party, defeating the incumbent Naomi Long of the Alliance Party, to become a Member of Parliament in the 2015 UK General Election.

In March 2019, Robinson was one of 21 MPs who voted against LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in English schools.[6][7][8]

In June 2023, he was elected by Democratic Unionist Party MLAs and MPs to become the party's Deputy Leader, succeeding Paula Bradley.

References

  1. "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9128.
  2. "BBC News – DUP's Gavin Robinson is new Lord Mayor of Belfast". BBC News. June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  3. "Gavin Robinson MP". DUP. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  4. "Four Northern Ireland constituencies to watch". RTÉ. 7 June 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2017. Gavin Robinson (no relation of Peter's)
  5. Staff. "Robinson is new Belfast Lord Mayor". Newsletter.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  6. Butterworth, Benjamin (28 March 2019). "MPS vote to back LGBT inclusive relationship education from age 5". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  7. Barlett, Nicola (28 March 2019). "21 MPS who voted against teaching kids about gay families". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  8. "Draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019 - CommonsVotes". Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
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