Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey,, best known as Reg Empey, is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010. He was the chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was also twice Lord Mayor of Belfast and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
Official portrait, 2019
Reg Empey and John White at the Ulster Unionist Party Executive Committee during the Leader's address. In the foreground Roy Beggs is seen.
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland, it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles, during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).
Carson inspecting the UVF, F. E. Smith walking behind him, pre-1914
Ulster Unionist Party, 1974. Troubled Images Exhibition, Linen Hall Library, Belfast, August 2010
UUP Headquarters - Strandtown Hall, Belfast
Image: Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long portrait
