25-610: The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 ; however, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , as with governors-general in other Westminster systems such as in Canada , chose to appoint someone to head the executive even though no such post existed in statute law . The office-holder assumed
50-429: A nationalist protest led by Eddie McAteer against gerrymandering by the unionist corporation against Derry 's nationalist majority. When Viscount Brookeborough resigned as prime minister in 1963, governor Baron Wakehurst was active in choosing Terence O'Neill as his successor. O'Neill in his memoirs compared this to Elizabeth II 's appointment by royal prerogative of Alec Douglas-Home as UK prime minister
75-651: A result, the executive committee stood in a similar relationship to the legislature and Crown (within devolved Northern Ireland) as the UK's Cabinet does to the Crown and Westminster Parliament. The executive committee thus played an equivalent constitutional role in relation to Northern Ireland as the UK Cabinet did to the United Kingdom as a whole. The system of government created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920
100-531: A separate executive building were abandoned in the 1920s as a result of the economic difficulties that resulted from the Wall Street Crash . From 1937 to 1944, Parker was Parliamentary Secretary (junior minister) to the Ministry of Education . One of her civil servants in that office, J.A. Oliver, described her as an "adroit politician and a formidable operator". She was the only woman to serve in
125-701: The Government of Ireland Act 1920 . Generally known as either the Cabinet or the Government , the executive committee existed from 1922 to 1972. It exercised executive authority formally vested in the British monarch in relation to devolved matters. Under the Act as originally enacted, the "Executive Committee for Northern Ireland" was an executive committee of the Privy Council of Ireland consisting of
150-552: The Government of Ireland Act 1920 did not explicitly provide for such an office, but in practice the executive committee was headed by a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland . In theory the executive committee was not answerable to the House of Commons but held their positions "during the pleasure of the Lord Lieutenant". In practice the executive committee was answerable to the elected House of Commons of Northern Ireland . As
175-643: The Law ministry advised FitzAlan to assent regardless, after James Craig threatened the resignation of his ministry in Stormont. This precedent dissuaded later London governments from interfering in Northern Ireland, although newly enacted Stormont bills were sent to the Home Secretary for review as a matter of course. A 1951 visit by the governor to Londonderry Corporation was the focus of
200-528: The "advice" of the Government of Northern Ireland . The government was technically an "executive committee" of the governor's Privy Council of Northern Ireland , which was ceremonial and rarely met. The governor summoned and prorogued the Parliament of Northern Ireland (latterly at Stormont Castle ) and delivered the speech from the throne at the Parliament's annual State Opening (except for
225-590: The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, shortly before the office was replaced by that of Governor of Northern Ireland. FitzAlan referred the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1922 to the Home Office in London from concern that its abolition of single transferable vote in local elections would violate the 1920 act's prohibition of religious discrimination . The Home Office agreed with FitzAlan but
250-658: The Stormont Parliament. These provisions were carried over in 1922 from those applied by the 1920 act to the office of Lord Lieutenant. The Duke of Abercorn, whose third term as Governor expired in December 1940, agreed to stay on until the end of the Second World War, at which point Earl Granville served out the balance of Abercorn's term and a full term of his own. In 1968, Lord Erskine resigned owing to his wife's ill health. His successor Lord Grey's term
275-451: The appointment of the executive committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland by the governor . No parliamentary vote was required. Nor, theoretically, was the executive committee and its prime minister responsible to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland . In reality the governor chose the leader of the party with a majority in the House to form a government. On each occasion this
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#1732782740175300-481: The first such in 1921, delivered in person by George V ). The governor had possession of the Great Seal of Northern Ireland , and exercised the prerogative of mercy . The governor gave royal assent to bills passed by Stormont. While he had the formal power to disallow or reserve legislation, this was never exercised. The only instance of reservation in relation to Stormont was made by Viscount FitzAlan ,
325-502: The governor was abolished on 18 July 1973 under Section 32 of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 . The secretary of state for Northern Ireland , a cabinet office that had been created in 1972, took over the functions of the governor on 20 December 1973 under Letters Patent. Analogous to the governor-general of a Commonwealth Dominion , the governor's formal power was ceremonial, exercised on
350-568: The ministers appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to head departments of state. Ministers so chosen did not have to be members of the Parliament of Northern Ireland but were required to become members within six months. The Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act , which came into force in December 1922, replaced the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council of Ireland with the Governor of Northern Ireland and Privy Council of Northern Ireland . As in many Westminster-style systems ,
375-556: The principles of consociational democracy . In 1974, Brian Faulkner was chosen to lead the Northern Ireland Executive not as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland but as Chief Executive of Northern Ireland . Government of Northern Ireland (1921%E2%80%931972) The Executive Committee or the Executive Committee for Northern Ireland was the government of Northern Ireland created under
400-719: The same year. Ken Bloomfield, a leading Stormont civil servant in the 1960s, "never had any sense of the Governor as a significant factor in [Northern Ireland prime ministers'] plans or calculations". While the Governor might in theory have been a channel of communication between Stormont and London, in practice the Stormont Cabinet Office talked directly to the Home Office in Whitehall. In 1966, an early sign of Northern Ireland's impending troubles came with
425-590: The then cabinet of Northern Ireland (the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland ), as Minister of Health and Local Government from 1949 to 1957. Governor of Northern Ireland The governor of Northern Ireland was the principal officer and representative in Northern Ireland of the British monarch . The office was established on 9 December 1922 and abolished on 18 July 1973. The office of Governor of Northern Ireland
450-581: The title prime minister to draw parallels with the prime minister of the United Kingdom . On the advice of the new prime minister, the lord lieutenant then created the Department of the Prime Minister . The office of Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was suspended in 1972 and then abolished in 1973, along with the contemporary government, when direct rule of Northern Ireland was transferred to London. The Government of Ireland Act provided for
475-594: The unpopularity among loyalists of Governor Lord Erskine , who had successfully lobbied for a new Belfast bridge to be named after Elizabeth II rather than loyalist hero Edward Carson . A crowd led by Ian Paisley jostled and heckled Erskine and his wife as they left the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland . The official residence of the governor of Northern Ireland
500-609: Was Hillsborough Castle in County Down . Following refurbishment of the Castle, the Duke of Abercorn took up residence in 1925. It remained the official residence until the abolition of the office of governor in 1973; henceforth it has been the official residence of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland . The Governor's standard term of office was six years, renewable without limit, and with no dependency on general elections to
525-436: Was cut short by the 1972 imposition of direct rule. The 1922 "Instructions" sent alongside the letters patent establishing the office required the governor of Northern Ireland to get the monarch's permission to leave Northern Ireland, and empowered the governor in such cases to issue letters patent under the Great Seal of Northern Ireland appointing a "Deputy or Deputies, Justice or Justices" during his absence. This emulated
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#1732782740175550-575: Was established on 9 December 1922 under letters patent to: do and execute in due manner as respects Northern Ireland all things which by virtue of the [1920] Act and our said Letters Patent of 27 April 1921 or otherwise belonged to the office of Lord Lieutenant at the time of the passing of the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 . The governor was the successor to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Northern Ireland, itself established on 3 May 1921. The office of
575-493: Was first suspended by the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972 , and then abolished completely the following year by the Government of the United Kingdom under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 . The executive committee was based in the Stormont Parliament Buildings and the nearby Stormont Castle , whilst the Governor resided at Hillsborough Castle . Original plans to build
600-645: Was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party ; such was the UUP's electoral dominance using both a simple plurality and for the first two elections, a proportional electoral system. All prime ministers of Northern Ireland were members of the Orange Order . The prime minister's residence from 1920 until 1922 was Cabin Hill, later to become the junior school for Campbell College . After 1922 Stormont Castle
625-660: Was used, though some prime ministers chose to live in Stormont House , the unused residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland . The new offices of first minister and deputy first minister were created by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In contrast with the Westminster-style system of the earlier Stormont government, the new Northern Ireland Executive operates on
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