A dairy farmer by profession Thompson was involved in politics from an early age and was a founder member of the DUP, serving on the new party's executive.
[1] Whilst serving as deputy mayor of Antrim in 1992 he resigned from the DUP for unknown reasons, although he stated publicly that his decision had nothing to do with Ian Paisley's leadership.
[1] Thompson has subsequently changed political allegiance on a number of occasions.
In the 1993 local elections he was returned to Antrim Council as an Independent Unionist before in 1997 retaining the seat as a UUP member.
[3] Roy Thompson was convicted of subsidy fraud in November 2003.