Fred Cobain

Fred Cobain MBE
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast North
In office 25 June 1998 – 2011
Preceded by	New Creation
Succeeded by	Paula Bradley
Personal details
Born	(1946-04-30) 30 April 1946
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party (Ulster Unionist Party until 2012)
Spouse(s)	Sandra Cobain
Website	http://www.fredcobain.com

Fred Cobain, MBE (born 30 April 1946) is a Democratic Unionist Party politician from Northern Ireland and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 until 2011.

Political career

Cobain was first elected to Belfast City Council in 1985. He served as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1990-1991. He had been an Ulster Unionist Party Northern Ireland Assembly Member for North Belfast since 1998.

Cobain was Chair of the Assembly's Committee for Social Development and served two terms on the Northern Ireland Policing Board

On 29 December 2007 he was named MBE in the New Year Honours 2008.

After the Christmas 2010 water crisis, Cobain supported a vote of no confidence in Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy, saying "At the end of the day in all of these issues the individual who leads the department is responsible and I have to say if this was any other part of the UK, or any other part of these islands, the minister would have been away weeks ago...This minister doesn't appear to accept any responsibility for anything."

On 14 January 2013, Fred Cobain left the Ulster Unionist party which he had served for more than 30 years. He joined the Democratic Unionist Party saying the UUP was "riven with personal and policy divisions" and was "politically exhausted". Cobain ran for the DUP but failed to be elected to the Mid and East Antrim District Council in the May 2014 Elections.

Family

He is married and has two children.

References

Political offices
Preceded by Sir Reg Empey	Lord Mayor of Belfast 1990 - 91	Succeeded by Nigel Dodds
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by New creation	MLA for Belfast North 1998 - 2011	Succeeded by Paula Bradley