Margaret Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

The Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
Official portrait, 2022
Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
In office
7 February 2010 – 5 November 2011
DeputyPatsy McGlone
General Sec.Gerry Cosgrove
ChairmanJoe Byrne
Preceded byMark Durkan
Succeeded byAlasdair McDonnell
Minister for Social Development
In office
8 May 2007 – 7 February 2010
First MinisterIan Paisley
Peter Robinson
Arlene Foster (Acting)
Preceded byNigel Dodds
Succeeded byAlex Attwood
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
5 November 2019
Life peerage
Member of Parliament
for South Down
In office
6 May 2010 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byEddie McGrady
Succeeded byChris Hazzard
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for South Down
In office
26 November 2003 – 31 March 2012
Preceded byEddie McGrady
Succeeded bySeán Rogers
Personal details
Born (1958-03-25) 25 March 1958 (age 66)
Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partyLabour (2021–present)[1]
Other political
affiliations
Independent (2019–2021)[2]
SDLP (1980–2019)[3]
Alma materQueen's University Belfast
WebsiteOfficial website

Margaret Mary Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (born 25 March 1958), is an Irish politician who was the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2010 to 2011. She was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2012, and was the Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2007 to 2010. Ritchie was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down from 2010 to 2017. She became a life peer in 2019 initially as a non-affiliated member, and then from October 2021 as a Labour member.

  1. ^ "Parliamentary career for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk.
  2. ^ Gordon, Gareth (10 September 2019). "Margaret Ritchie quits SDLP to become peer". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Margaret Ritchie: If the SDLP name disappears I will severely regret it". newsletter.co.uk. Newsletter. 4 January 2019. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.