Gary Middleton

Gary Middleton is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Unionist Party">Unionism in Ireland">Unionist Party. He has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Foyle since 2015. Middleton is the DUP Spokesperson for the North West.
He served as Acting Junior Minister for the Executive Office from February to March 2021 while Gordon Lyons was Acting Agriculture Minister while Edwin Poots stood aside due to ill health. In June 2021, Middleton replaced Lyons permanently as Junior Minister.

Early life

Born in Newbuildings, County Londonderry, Middleton studied Computer Science at the University of Ulster, and also obtained a diploma in Civic Leadership and Community Planning from the same institution. Prior to becoming an MLA, he was a youth worker and also worked as an assistant to Foyle MLA William Hay, [Baron Hay of Ballyore|William Hay] and later Maurice Devenney, who was himself co-opted to replace William Hay in October 2014 upon the latter's retirement after being elevated to the House of Lords.

Middleton was first elected to Derry City Council in 2011 at the age of 20, replacing William Hay by co-option. He also served as Deputy Mayor from June 2013 – March 2015.
In 2014 he was elected to the new Derry and [Strabane District Council|Derry and Strabane] 'Reform of [local government in Northern Ireland|super council]' and was appointed group leader of the DUP councillors. In April 2015, he was co-opted to replace fellow DUP member Maurice Devenney in the Northern Ireland Assembly, becoming the assembly's youngest member at 24.
Shortly after joining the assembly, it was announced that Middleton would be the DUP's candidate for the Foyle constituency in the 2015 [United Kingdom general election|United Kingdom general election], eventually finishing a distant third with 12.4% of the vote.