Jim Rodgers (politician)

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Jim Rodgers
Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party on Belfast City Council
Assumed office
2 May 2019
LeaderRobin Swann
Steve Aiken
Doug Beattie
Preceded byDavid Browne
64th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office
1 June 2007 – 1 June 2008
DeputyDavid Browne
Preceded byPat McCarthy
Succeeded byTom Hartley
58th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office
1 June 2001 – 1 June 2002
DeputyHugh Smyth
Preceded bySammy Wilson
Succeeded byAlex Maskey
Member of
Belfast City Council
Assumed office
22 May 2014
Preceded byDistrict created
ConstituencyOrmiston
In office
19 May 1993 – 22 May 2014
Preceded byAlan Montgomery
Succeeded byDistrict abolished
ConstituencyVictoria
Member of the Northern Ireland Forum
for Belfast East
In office
30 May 1996 – 25 April 1998
Personal details
Born06 Jan 1943
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political partyUlster Unionist Party
Other political
affiliations
Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (1973)

Jim Rodgers OBE (b.1943) is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2001 to 2002, and again from 2007 to 2008. Rodgers also served as the High Sheriff of Belfast from 2016 to 2017. A member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), he has been a Belfast City Councillor for the Ormiston (formerly Victoria) DEA since 1993. Additionally, Rodgers is an appointed Alderman on the council.

Work[edit]

In 1973, he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly.[1]

In 1996, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum for East Belfast. Rodgers stood in the 1998, 2003 and 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly elections for East Belfast but was unsuccessful on each occasion. He is a councillor for Ormiston DEA on Belfast City Council and was elected as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2001. Rodgers was again elected Lord Mayor in 2007, he had the backing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) group on the council and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).[2]

Rodgers served on a variety of public bodies including Belfast Education and Library Board, Belfast District Policing Partnership, Sport Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Events Company. He is also a former director of Glentoran FC but resigned from his position a few days before a winding up order from HMRC was due to be heard by the High Court in January 2011. [3]

At a DPP meeting in Short Strand Community centre on 15 June 2009, he claimed he had been attacked with eggs and stones by members of the IRSP.[4]

In 2010, a council worker received a £24,000 payment for a back injury after Rogers tried to leapfrog over her during a council garden party.[5]

In the run up to the 2019 Local Government Election, a leaflet for Mr Rodgers and fellow UUP councillor Peter Johnston alleged that the Alliance Party was "closely aligned" with the "IRA's political wing". The leaflet was widely condemned, with the UUP stating it was not sanctioned by the party. Rodgers had the party whip removed and was referred to the party's disciplinary committee.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Northern Ireland elections
  2. ^ "Belfast gets new Sinn Fein mayor". BBC News. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Glentoran FC winding-up petition dismissed by court". BBC News. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  4. ^ "Eggs and Stones thrown at Jim Rodgers". BBC News. 16 June 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  5. ^ "£24k paid to worker hurt by leapfrog Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers". Belfast Telegraph. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  6. ^ "UUP councillor Jim Rodgers facing disciplinary action by party over anti-Alliance leaflet". Belfast Telegraph. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
Northern Ireland Forum
New forum Member for East Belfast
1996–1998
Forum dissolved
Civic offices
Preceded by
Margaret Crooks
Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast
1997–1998
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Mayor of Belfast
2001–02
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Mayor of Belfast
2007–08
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Gareth McKee
High Sheriff of Belfast
2016–2017
Succeeded by
Tom Haire