Born in
County Antrim, Wilson attended
Belfast College of Technology before becoming a
marine engineer. He was elected to
Newtownabbey Borough Council in 1977 for the
Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, and joined the
Ulster Unionist Party the following year. However, he resigned his position on the council in 1988. He was UUP General Secretary from the late 1980s until 1998. Wilson was elected to the
Northern Ireland Assembly for
South Antrim in 1998 and held his seat at the
2003 election. He retired from front line politics in 2007. In March 2007 he was reappointed General Secretary of the UUP. ==References==