Lembit Öpik

Öpik was born in Bangor, County Down, the elder son of Liivi Öpik (née Vedo) and physicist Uno Öpik (19 October 1926 – 6 May 2005), and grew up there with sister Urve Öpik (born 1960, a psychotherapist) and brother Endel "Tal" Öpik (12 April 1968 – 21 November 2005, a musician).

His grandfather was Ernst Öpik, an Estonian astronomer who worked at Armagh Observatory.

Öpik was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution before going on to the University of Bristol, where he completed a degree in philosophy.

Lembit Öpik (, ; born 2 March 1965) is a former British politician.

He served as the President of the University of Bristol Union (1985–86) and as a member of the National Executive of the National Union of Students (1987–88).

In 1988, Öpik joined Procter & Gamble in Newcastle upon Tyne as a brand assistant.

He became corporate training and organisation development manager in 1991 and was promoted to be global human resources training manager in 1996.

Öpik was elected to the Liberal Democrats' Federal Executive Committee in 1991.

He was elected as a councillor on Newcastle City Council in 1992.

Öpik stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Newcastle upon Tyne Central in the 1992 general election and for Northumbria in the 1994 European Parliament elections.

A former member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat at the 2010 general election.

At the 1997 general election, the Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire, Alex Carlile, retired and Öpik successfully stood as the Lib Dem candidate.

Öpik served as the Liberal Democrat spokesman on education (1997), Northern Ireland (1997–2007), Wales (2001–07), business (2007), and housing (2007–08).

In 1999, he was one of only two of the party's 46 MPs to back the abortive leadership campaign of Don Foster.

Foster abandoned his campaign before nominations even closed, and backed Charles Kennedy, the eventual winner, instead.

He was the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2001 to 2007.

He retained the seat at the 2001 general election and at the 2005 general election, increasing his share of the vote by 3.5% in 2001 and by a further 1.8% in 2005, giving him a majority of 7,173 over the Conservative candidate.

During the 2001–05 Parliament, Öpik was a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons.

He was the joint chair of the Middle Way Group, a cross-party parliamentary group which supported the regulation, rather than the banning, of fox hunting.

Öpik became leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in 2001 following the retirement of Richard Livsey.

Öpik stood unsuccessfully for the position of President of the party in 2004 and 2008.

In September 2004, Öpik stood for the position of President of the Liberal Democrats but was defeated by Simon Hughes.

The party president chairs a number of party committees and also represents the party at official functions.

During the 2006 leadership contest, Öpik was initially a strong supporter of Kennedy, who then stood down.

Öpik subsequently became campaign manager for Mark Oaten.

However, Oaten quickly withdrew from the contest, having failed to attract enough support from within the parliamentary party; his only backers were Öpik and Baroness Ludford.

He stood down in 2007 and was succeeded by Mike German.

In the 2007 leadership election, Öpik declared his backing for Nick Clegg, and when Clegg won the election Öpik said "My man won, so the curse of Öpik has at last become a blessing".

In 2008, a campaign amongst grassroots party members backing him as a successor to Hughes, under the slogan "I Pick Öpik", emerged at the party's 2008 spring conference in Liverpool.

On 24 September, Öpik announced that he was standing down as the party's housing spokesman to concentrate on a campaign for party president.

However, in the party ballot in November, Öpik was defeated by Baroness Scott of Needham Market by 20,736 votes to 6,247.

In successive Liberal Democrat leadership contests, Öpik gained a reputation for backing campaigns that soon collapsed, leading some to talk of the "curse of Lembit" making his backing undesirable.

Öpik supported Jenny Randerson in the 2008 contest for leadership of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Randerson lost to Kirsty Williams.

In May 2009 The Daily Telegraph published details of Öpik's parliamentary expenses claims.

However, he lost his seat to the Conservative Glyn Davies following a 13.2% swing in Montgomeryshire at the 2010 general election.

He was also unsuccessful in a bid to become the Liberal Democrats' nominee in the 2012 London mayoral election.

Beyond his political work, Öpik has also been in the public eye through his appearances on several television shows and as a result of his personal relationships with ITV weather presenter Siân Lloyd and with pop star Gabriela Irimia of The Cheeky Girls, which drew considerable media attention.

Öpik's parents were from Estonia, but after the Soviet occupation under Joseph Stalin, they fled to Northern Ireland.

Öpik supported Tim Farron in the 2015 Liberal Democrat leadership election, who eventually won with a margin of 13%.