Dermot Nesbitt: A profile

By Martina Purdy BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent

He is older than he looks and his polite disposition masks a steely determination. Dermot Nesbitt, is no pushover.

He has very firms views, as those who have locked horns with him on bodies such as the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights (SACHR) soon found out.

Having helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Nesbitt has been one of its staunchest defenders

Mr Nesbitt, who is the new environment minister, is in many ways, a surprise star of the Ulster Unionist Party under the leadership of David Trimble.

Mr Nesbitt was always viewed as a liberal, in contrast to Mr Trimble who upon his election as leader of the UUP was viewed as an uncompromising unionist.

At 54, Mr Nesbitt, a South Down unionist, is a veteran of Northern Ireland politics.

In fact, as a young unionist, he was the election agent for Brian Faulkner in the years 1973 to 1977.

This, of course, included the year of the ill-fated Sunningdale Agreement in 1974 which sealed Faulkner's fate.

Mr Nesbitt, allied with what unionists perceived as the more liberal wing of their party, appears to have spent a number of years in the wildnerness in the hope that another Brian Faulkner would emerge.

Mr Nesbitt busied himself as a councillor in South Down during the years 1981-1989.

Good news

He remained active in public life during those years also, serving as chairman of the South Eastern Education and Library Board from 1985 to 1989.

He is also a past chairman of the Board of Governors of Stranmillis College.

But higher office eluded him until Mr Trimble became leader.

Ironically, the election of David Trimble as party leader in 1995 did not, at the time, appear to be good news for the Dermot Nesbitts of the party.

Mr Trimble, then, was the darling of the unionist right, and a long way from comparisons to Faulkner.

But as Mr Trimble moved towards negotiations, he formed new political alliances and Mr Nesbitt has been one of his staunchest supporters and closest advisors.

In 1996 he emerged from the shadows when he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum, and became a member of the Ulster Unionist negotiating team.

Having helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Nesbitt has been one of its staunchest defenders.

And he approaches the issue, and politics in general, in a rather intellectual way, which can make it rather difficult for journalists seeking simple soundbites.

It was while at Queen's that one of the tragic events of his life occurred

Before entering politics full-time, Mr Nesbitt earned his living as an academic, lecturing in finance at Queen's University Belfast.

He was head of the University's Department of Accountancy and Finance from 1990 to 1998.

It was at QUB that he graduated with a BSC (first Class) in 1974, having been educated previously at Down High School.

It was while at Queen's that one of the tragic events of his life occurred.

He was standing chatting to friend and colleague, Edgar Graham, an Ulster Unionist law lecturer at Queen's, when he was murdered by the IRA in 1983.

Mr Nesbitt married his wife Oriel in 1970.

The couple have two grown children, Andrew and Elaine.

Outside politics and international relations, Mr Nesbitt's interests include motor racing, the cinema and flying - he's been a qualified pilot since 1972.