Dermot Nesbitt is a politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 from Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Nesbitt studied economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 at Queens University Belfast and joined the Ulster Unionist Party

Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

 (UUP). He was the election agent

Election agent

In elections in the United Kingdom, as well as in certain other similar political systems such as India's, an election agent is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is sent to by those running the election. In elections in...

 for Brian Faulkner

Brian Faulkner

Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, PC was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972...

 from 1973 until 1977, most of this period spent as a member of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland

Unionist Party of Northern Ireland

The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland was a political party founded by Brian Faulkner in September 1974.-Formation:The party emerged following splits in the Ulster Unionist Party in 1973 and 1974 over the British government's white paper Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals, the Northern...

.

Nesbitt worked as a lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

 at Queens and by 1981 he had rejoined the UUP, being elected to Down District Council

Down District Council

Down District Council is a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. The Council is headquartered in Downpatrick. Other towns in the Council area are Ardglass, Ballynahinch, Castlewellan, Clough, Crossgar, Dundrum, Killough, Killyleagh, Newcastle, Saintfield, Seaforde and Strangford...

. He held this seat until 1989.

Nesbitt was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum

Northern Ireland Forum

The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....

 for South Down

South Down (Assembly constituency)

South Down is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...

 in 1996, and held this seat on the Northern Ireland Assembly

Northern Ireland Assembly

The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

 at the 1998

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998

-Seats summary:-Details:Although the SDLP won the most first preference votes, the Ulster Unionists won the most seats in the Assembly. This has been attributed to several reasons, including:...

 and 2003 elections

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2003

The second elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which at the time of the elections had been suspended for just over a year, were held on Wednesday 26 November 2003. Six members were elected by Single Transferable Vote from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary...

. He was a junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 until 2002, when he took up the post of Minister of the Environment. He retired in 2007, and party colleague John McCallister

John McCallister

John McCallister, MLA is a Northern Ireland Unionist politician who, in 2007, was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as an Ulster Unionist Party member for South Down....

 retained a UUP seat in the South Down

South Down (Assembly constituency)

South Down is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...

 constituency.

At the 1997

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

, 2001

United Kingdom general election, 2001

The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

 and 2005 general election

United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

s, Nesbitt stood unsuccessfully for the Westminster seat of South Down

South Down (UK Parliament constituency)

South Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the southern part of Down...

. He currently works as a lecturer in finance at Queens.