Ken Maginnis was the Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1983 to 2001.
12 Facts About Ken Maginnis
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Ken Maginnis worked as a teacher for a number of years before joining the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1971.
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Ken Maginnis was the Ulster Unionist candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the second by-election in 1981, coming second.
4.
Ken Maginnis continued his protest by refusing to pay his car tax, for which he was sentenced to seven days' imprisonment in 1987.
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Ken Maginnis renewed his membership of Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council in 2001 when he was elected for Dungannon Town.
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Ken Maginnis stood down as an MP at the 2001 general election, and on 20 July of that year was created a life peer taking the title Baron Maginnis of Drumglass, of Carnteel in the County of Tyrone, and took his seat in the House of Lords, sitting initially with the UUP.
7.
In December 2020, the House of Lords Conduct Committee recommended that Ken Maginnis be suspended from the House of Lords for at least 18 months for breaching the Code of Conduct in relation to behaviour that constituted bullying and harassment against four complainants, including homophobic remarks directed at SNP MP Hannah Bardell and Shadow Environment Secretary Luke Pollard.
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Ken Maginnis was perceived to be on the more social liberal wing of the UUP along with Lady Hermon.
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Ken Maginnis is one of only three MPs in the Ulster Unionist Party's history not to have been a member of the Orange Order, although he was a member of the Apprentice Boys of Derry.
10.
In June 2012, on BBC Northern Ireland's The Nolan Show, Ken Maginnis stated he was opposed to gay marriage because it was "unnatural" and he did not believe society should "have imposed on it something that is unnatural".
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That same month, at the behest of Nesbitt, he suffered the withdrawal of the UUP party whip over his comments; Ken Maginnis resigned from the UUP on 28 August 2012.
12.
In 2016, Ken Maginnis received a heavy fine after refusing to pay a small fine for having the wrong ticket for a train journey between Gatwick Airport and London.