Epping migrant hotel judge Mr Justice Eyre stood for Tories in Northern Ireland and England
The judge who issued the ruling on the Epping migrant hotel is a former Northern Ireland election candidate.
Mr Justice Eyre presided over the case at the High Court in London on Tuesday, ultimately deciding to bar asylum seekers from being housed at an Essex hotel because it might be in breach of planning permission.
Stephen Eyre had stood as a Westminster candidate for the Tories in Strangford in 1992.
He had polled some 6,782 votes – 15% of the total – coming in just behind Kieran McCarthy of the Alliance Party with 16.9% of the vote.
The seat was soundly won by the UUP’s John Taylor with 19,517 votes – 43.6% – with DUP man Sammy Wilson coming second on 23.7%.
According to a BBC election profile for him, dating from 2001 when he stood for the Stourbridge constituency outside Birmingham as a Conservative, he had also earlier stood for the party in Birmingham’s Hodge Hill constituency in 1987.
His biography on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website says he was educated in Solihull outside Birmingham, before practicing as a barrister in the city.
He was appointed a recorder (a type of judge) in 2005, and later became a circuit judge in the Crown Court in 2015, going on to join the High Court in 2021.
A spokesperson for the UK judiciary said: “Judicial independence and impartiality are fundamental to the rule of law.
"Upon taking office, judges take the judicial oath where they swear to act ‘without fear or favour, affection or ill will’.
"In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented to them and apply the law as it stands.”