Clan Rising

Long Family Champion

Naomi Long(1971–)

Naomi Rachel Long, MLA

The Belfast Methodist civil-engineer's daughter who became Lord Mayor of Belfast at thirty-eight, took East Belfast at Westminster in 2010, became the first woman to lead a major Northern Irish party in 2016, and has served as Northern Ireland Minister of Justice through the Stormont restoration of 2024.

Naomi Rachel Johnston was born at Belfast on 13 December 1971, eldest daughter of an electrical engineer at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and a school dinner-lady. The family lived on the Protestant working-class east-Belfast Sydenham estate, and she was raised in the Sydenham Methodist congregation.

She was schooled at Bloomfield Collegiate Girls' School and won an open scholarship to Queen's University Belfast, taking a first-class honours degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1994. She worked seven years as a chartered civil engineer in the Northern Ireland Roads Service and at a consulting firm, took the chartered-engineer qualification in 1998, and married a fellow Queen's engineering classmate in 1995.

She joined the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland in 1995, the cross-community party founded in 1970 as the liberal-centrist alternative to the Unionist and Nationalist traditions. She was elected to Belfast City Council in 2001, became an Alliance MLA for East Belfast in 2003, and served as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2009-10 at thirty-eight.

She took the East Belfast Westminster seat from the Democratic Unionist Party leader and First Minister Peter Robinson at the 2010 general election, one of the most-discussed Northern Irish results of the decade, and held it through the 2010 to 2015 Westminster term as the senior Alliance voice in the Commons.

She was elected Leader of the Alliance Party in October 2016, the first woman elected leader of any of the major Northern Irish political parties, and has held the leadership continuously since. She served briefly as a Northern Ireland MEP across the post-Brexit transition, and has been Northern Ireland Minister of Justice across two tenures, from 2020 to 2022 and from February 2024 through the post-Windsor-Framework Stormont restoration. The Long name, the descriptive Old English lang, the tall one, she carries in its Belfast-Sydenham Methodist-engineering variant into the senior cross-community ministerial leadership of Northern Ireland.

Achievements

  • ·BEng First-Class Honours, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, 1994
  • ·Belfast City Councillor for Victoria ward from 2001
  • ·Alliance MLA for East Belfast from 2003
  • ·Lord Mayor of Belfast, 2009 to 2010
  • ·Westminster MP for East Belfast 2010 to 2015 (defeated Peter Robinson)
  • ·Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from October 2016 (first woman to lead a major Northern Irish party)
  • ·MEP for Northern Ireland, May 2019 to January 2020
  • ·Northern Ireland Minister of Justice, 2020 to 2022 and from February 2024

Step Into History

Walk the streets and halls Naomi Long knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk London in 1818Enter →

St Paul's, Covent Garden and the gaslit West End — Regency London, soot-hazed and horse-drawn.

Where this story lives

Frequently asked

What is Naomi Long famous for?

The Belfast Methodist civil-engineer's daughter who became Lord Mayor of Belfast at thirty-eight, took East Belfast at Westminster in 2010, became the first woman to lead a major Northern Irish party in 2016, and has served as Northern Ireland Minister of Justice through the Stormont restoration of 2024. Naomi Rachel Johnston was born at Belfast on 13 December 1971, eldest daughter of an electrical engineer at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and a school dinner-lady.

When was Naomi Long born?

Naomi Long was born in 1971 in Belfast. The full biographical record sits on the dedicated page on Clan Rising, set alongside the wider history of the Long family.

Where was Naomi Long born?

Naomi Long was born in Belfast. The atlas links the birthplace to its tile page so the surrounding geography and other families of the area can be explored from the same record.

Where did Naomi Long live and work?

Naomi Long's life and work were concentrated in London. Each location has its own page on the atlas with the broader historical context for the area.

What is Naomi Long's connection to the Long family?

Naomi Long is recorded on Clan Rising as a Long Family Champion, a figure whose life is inseparable from the surname. The Long family page sets the wider context for the name and links through to every other notable bearer.

What did Naomi Long achieve?

Headline achievements recorded for Naomi Long include BEng First-Class Honours, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, 1994, Belfast City Councillor for Victoria ward from 2001, Alliance MLA for East Belfast from 2003 and Lord Mayor of Belfast, 2009 to 2010. The full list and the surrounding biographical record sit on the dedicated champion page.

Was Naomi Long a Long?

Yes. Naomi Long is filed on Clan Rising under the Long family. The naming convention follows the surname a diaspora reader would search for today; titles, particles and pen names sort under that same canonical surname.