High-flying MP Alex Easton takes to the skies - and raises thousands for charity

But for daredevil MP Alex Easton, that wasn’t good enough; no, he had to push even higher – 15,000 feet higher, as he took to the skies, if only briefly.

The independent unionist recently completed a charity parachute jump, raising thousands of pounds for a women’s organisation in his North Down constituency.

It followed hot on the heels of another adventurous feat last year, that saw him scale to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The high-flying politician has taken to some gutsy exploits over his summer breaks from the House of Commons, with his latest seeing him take a leap into the great beyond.

Accompanied by experts from Skydive Ireland, he plummeted safely to back to earth – but as he admits, he did have an attack of last-minute nerves.

"I felt pretty calm about it until I got to the plane and took off,” he told the News Letter. “My heart was pounding out of my chest.

"The instructors are very good, they kept chatting and checking everything is secure.

"We get to 15,000 feet, the door opens and a green light gives the go-ahead. Within a minute, everyone was out of the plane and I was left with my instructor.”

Hanging out of the aeroplane door with the wind rushing past and the ground a long, long way down, Alex reminded himself of his generous donors who had given so much to his chosen charity, North Down and Ards Women’s Aid.

“I thought, ‘you just have to go for it because so many people are relying on you’ – basically shrugging my shoulders and saddling up, even with my heart going a million miles an hour.”

Gritting his teeth, the 57-year-old stepped into the wild blue yonder.

With the 15,000ft jump marking his first skydive, the MP was safe in the hands of his instructor, who he was strapped to for the duration.

“The freefall was for about 50 seconds,” he said. “The cold on my face and head was quite sore, which distracted me from overthinking.

“I had expected when you fall out of a plane you would feel like you’re going a million miles an hour, but it didn’t feel like that at all.

“Similarly, I’d always thought when when the parachute opened I’d be jolted away up into the air, but strangely that wasn’t the case. When it was deployed at around 5,000 feet, it was quite gentle.

“The instructor allowed me to steer the parachute, which was cool – and it gave me time to enjoy the view, which was awesome.”

Back on solid ground, he felt relief to be safely down and also a thrill from the achievement.

“I had always wanted to do a jump but never actually got around to it,” he said. “My feelings overall were ‘yes, I did it, and I will never forget the rush’.

“I can’t thank Skydive Ireland enough, they really made it easy for me and I’d recommend them to anyone wanting that ultimate challenge.”

The MP has so far raised over £5,000 for North Down and Ards Women’s Aid, and is still accepting donations.