John Esmond Birnie (born 6 January 1965) is a British economist, author and former unionist politician.
He was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 1998 until 2007.
He studied Economics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge before completing a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast.
In the 2005 Northern Ireland Local Election, he stood again for Balmoral, this time for the Ulster Unionist Party, and failed to get elected by 0.95 votes on the final count.
Birnie was also second on the Conservative regional list for the 1996 Forum Election,[1] but was not elected as the party was 12th most popular in electoral support, and only the top 10 parties were eligible for two top up seats.