 Starting in 2000, he worked in the accident and emergency department in the Newtownards and then the Ulster Hospital as a clerical officer.A Democratic Unionist Party politician, he was first elected to North Down Borough Council in 2001 and left Council in December 2013.He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003 for the constituency of North Down and returned again in 2007, 2011, 2016 and again in 2017 where he topped the poll for North Down increasing his vote each Election.