Hume, John (1937– )

Northern Ireland politician, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979. Hume was a founder member of the Credit Union Party, which later became the SDLP. An MP since 1969, and a member of the European Parliament, he has been one of the chief architects of the peace process in Northern Ireland. He shared the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998 with David Trimble for their efforts to further the peace process. Hume announced his resignation in September 2001.

In 1993 he held talks with the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, on the possibility of securing peace in Northern Ireland. This prompted a joint Anglo-Irish peace initiative, which in turn led to a general ceasefire 1994–96. Despite the collapse of the ceasefire, Hume continued in his efforts to broker a settlement. This was achieved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the SDLP polled strongly in the subsequent June 1998 elections to the new Northern Ireland assembly. He resigned from the Northern Ireland assembly in December 2000, though he retained his seat in the House of Commons at Westminster.