William Long

William Joseph Long OBE (23 April 1922 – 10 February 2008) was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Early life Long was born in Stockton-on-Tees in England and studied at the Friends' School in Great Ayton, the Royal Veterinary College in Edinburgh and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He became an officer in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was posted to Northern Ireland in 1940. While there, he married Doreen Mercer, a local doctor, and in 1942, the two settled in Northern Ireland.

Long left the British Army in 1948 and became the Secretary of the Northern Ireland Marriage Guidance Council. In 1951, he became Secretary of the Northern Ireland Chest and Heart Association. He joined the Ulster Unionist Party, and was elected to Donaghadee Urban District Council in 1952, serving as chairman from 1955 until 1964. He was also a member of Down County Council Health and Education Committees.

Parliamentary career At the 1962 Northern Ireland general election, Long was elected MP for Ards. Soon after his election, he made headlines by accusing the management of the Harland and Wolff shipyard of introducing "capital punishment" by sacking 2,000 men during a strike.

Long initially focussed on representing the fishing industry in his constituency, and when Terence O'Neill became Prime Minister in 1964, he appointed Long as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, with special responsibility for fisheries. Long proved loyal to O'Neill and was rewarded in 1966 with promotion to Minister for Education. and retired in 1987, soon moving to North Yorkshire. In 2007, he married Valerie Bryans, who had been his secretary at Stormont.