Ben Caraher

John Bernard Caraher (1 January 1938 – 21 November 2018), known as Ben Caraher, was a politician in Northern Ireland.

Caraher grew up in Crossmaglen and attended Queen's University Belfast, where he became active in the Irish nationalist New Ireland Society, although he saw himself principally as a supporter of the British Labour Party. He then became a founder member of the National Democratic Party (NDP).

Caraher became a teacher of English and politics, working in a Belfast grammar school. The NDP became part of the new Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and Caraher immediately became one of its main political theorists. He was part of the team which drafted the party's constitution, organised the Belfast section of the party, and was elected as its first vice-chairman.

At the 1985 Northern Ireland local elections, Caraher acted as election agent for Dorita Field, who stood unsuccessfully in the Balmoral area.