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;Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition, p.111. however, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,The new office of governor had not yet come into being because its creation required an amendment to the original Act. The lord lieutenant of Ireland had originally been granted the role and exercised the powers, functions and duties pending the creation of governor's post in 1922. Ward, p.116. 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 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.Ward, p.116. 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 the appointment of the executive committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland by the governor.Government of Ireland Act 1920, s. 8. 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 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 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 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.
List of officeholders No.NamePortraitTerm of officeElectedMinistryPartyLast office(s) held before election1.Sir James Craig (created 1st Viscount Craigavon in 1927)Viscount Craigavon from 19277 June 192124 November 19401921 (1st)CraigavonUlster Unionist PartyParliamentary and FinancialSecretary to the Admiralty(1920–1921)1925 (2nd)1929 (3rd)1933 (4th)1938 (5th)2.John Miller Andrews27 November 19401 May 1943 — (5th)AndrewsUlster Unionist PartyMinister of Finance (1937–1941)3. Sir Basil Brooke (created The 1st Viscount Brookeborough in 1952)Viscount Brookeborough from 19521 May 194326 March 1963 — (5th)BrookeboroughUlster Unionist PartyMinister of Commerce(1941–1943) 1945 (6th) 1949 (7th) 1953 (8th) 1958 (9th) 1962 (10th)4.Terence O'Neill25 March 19631 May 1969 — (10th)O'NeillUlster Unionist PartyMinister of Finance (1956–1963) 1965 (11th) 1969 (12th)5.James Chichester-Clark1 May 196923 March 1971 — (12th)Chichester-ClarkUlster Unionist PartyMinister of Agriculture (1967–1969)Leader of the House of Commons (1968–1969)6.Brian Faulkner 23 March 197130 March 1972 — (12th)FaulknerUlster Unionist PartyMinister of Development (1969–1971)
Parliamentary Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister 1921–1929 Algernon Skeffington, 12th Viscount Massereene 1929–1930 Maxwell Ward, 6th Viscount Bangor 1930–1941 Senator John Andrew Long 1941–1948 Sir Joseph Davison 1948–1960 Senator William Moore Wallis Clark 1960–1970 Senator Daniel McGladdery 1970–1972 Captain John Brooke, M.P.
Additional Parliamentary Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister 1969 Bob Simpson
Footnotes
Sources Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition (Irish Academic Press, 1994) Government of Ireland Act, 1920 The Government of Northern Ireland