Tuesday 14th April.
Andrew Muir (Alliance candidate for North Down) in High Street, Bangor near a bar called “Fealtys”. Muir is one of those second tier Alliance politicans. Youthful but a veteran, he has already been Mayor of North Down and was Alliance candidate in Newry-Armagh (Westminster 2010) …one of a group of second tier people who were parachuted into constituencies to “fly the flag”.
He is openly gay….which should not matter ….but Muir seems to position himself as a “gay politician” as much as an “Alliance politician”. That is brave but really has mixed results. The openess can turn off people who are either homophobic or consider it irrelevant but Muir can reach outside narrow party politics.
His candidature is as much about Assembly Elections 2016 as it is about Westmimster Elections 2015. Stephen Farry MLA is the top Alliance man in North Down and Muir has positioned himself as the second best known Alliance person in the constituency.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Wasn’t he once SDLP before defecting from SDLP to Alliance?
I have seen that on websites but I dont know if its true.
It is a bad location for an ambitious SDLP member.
It is a good location for an ambitious Alliance member.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7235783.stm
According to this news story Andrew Muir was worried that the SDLP would merge with FF or Labour, and that is why he left them to join the Alliance party.
He need not have worried.
Well….the cloud had a silver lining for Mr Muir. He has been Mayor of North Down.
I do not think he would have achieved that as a SDLP member.
He is presuably more at ease with representing the Alliance manifesto than the SDLP manifesto.