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Jim Allister: The basics

Date of birth: 2 April 1953

Family: Married Ruth in 1978, two sons and a daughter

Education: Regent House grammar school, Queen's University Belfast

Career: A barrister specialising in criminal law, member of the European Parliament 2004-2009, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader since 2007 and Northern Ireland Assembly member since 2010

Parliamentary constituency: None, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim

Who is he?

Born into a farming family County Down, Mr Allister first became involved in politics as a student at Queen's University Belfast.

He was in and out of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) fold having joined the party in 1971, before leaving to return to his career as a barrister.

He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1976 and in 2001 was elevated to the Senior Bar.

When did he become TUV leader?

Mr Allister fell out with DUP founder and leader Ian Paisley in 1987, but by 2004 he had returned to contest and win a seat for the party in the European election that year.

He quit the party again in 2007 over its decision to share power at Stormont with Sinn Féin and he set up a new party, the Traditional Unionist Vote.

A supporter of Brexit, he has been a vocal critic of the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework which he says threatens the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.

Where is the TUV at the moment?

The party is the smallest of the three main unionist parties in Northern Ireland.

Mr Allister is its only representative at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

At the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election TUV had a vote share of 7.6%.

It has 10 councillors at local government level across Northern Ireland.

The party did not run any candidates in the 2019 election, this time it will run in 14 constituencies.