Nicholson was born in 1945 in Armagh, Northern Ireland.[3] Educated locally, he later worked as a farmer on the family farm. He joined the Ulster Unionist Party in the early 1970s and was the Secretary/Organiser of Mid-South Armagh Unionist Association from 1973 to 1983.[3] He was elected to his first public office in 1976 as a member of Armagh council; he served until 1997 and was chairman of the council in 1994–95.[3] From 1982 to 1986, Nicholson was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.[4]
Nicholson, who was defending the nationalist-majority Newry and Armagh constituency in the by-election, was the only resigning MP not to re-win his seat, losing it to Seamus Mallon of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the by-election. He contested the seat again at the 1987 general election[3] but demographics in the area had shifted against unionism; nationalist and republican candidates have held it ever since.
Nicholson was initially a member of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament. In 1997, however, he transferred to the euroscepticIndependents for a Europe of Nations group. He served as vice-chairman of the group for two years.[5] In 1999, he joined the European Democrats wing of the European People's Party - European Democrats group, the largest group in the Parliament, a eurosceptic wing which also contained the UK's Conservative MEPs. He was one of five Quaestors in the European Parliament, becoming the first ever MEP from Northern Ireland to hold such a senior position when elected on 21 July 2004; he was re-elected in 2007. In 2009, he was elected as a Conservatives and Unionists candidate and subsequently joined the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. He served on the European Parliament's Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety between 2014 and 2017.[6]
Nicholson describes himself as a "euro-realist"; he is opposed to the creation of a federal Europe and is against the adoption of the euro as the currency of the United Kingdom.[4] He does, however, believe that the European Union has been good for Northern Ireland in relation to funding and infrastructure.[3] In 2016, Nicholson voiced his concerns about the way in which the EU has changed since he first became an MEP.
Nicholson married Elizabeth Gibson in 1968 and had six sons and one daughter. His wife died in May 2015 after a long illness.[3] His son, Sam Nicholson, was a councillor and deputy mayor for ABC Borough Council, and a candidate for the 2017, 2019 and 2024 general elections in Northern Ireland for the constituency of Newry and Armagh.[8][9]
References
^"Key dates ahead". European Parliament. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
