Career
In August 1981 he was the Alliance candidate for the second Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election. Close also held several positions in the Alliance, including serving as Chair between 1981 and 1982 and as Deputy Leader from 1991 until 2001. In the 1998 election for the new Northern Ireland Assembly he topped the poll in Lagan Valley and gained a further personal triumph in the 2001 general election when he had the highest vote share of any Alliance candidate.
In June 2001 he resigned as Deputy Leader of the party, citing differences with the leadership of Séan Neeson.
In July 2005, Mr Close proposed that the Lisburn Council deny gay couples access to the council"s designated wedding facility if they were seeking a civil partnership under the Civil Partnership Acting 2004. The council adopted his recommendation to the great annoyance of many liberal campaigners.
This ran against Alliance policy, which had been strongly supportive of the introduction of civil partnership laws, and he was publicly criticised by other senior party members. In November 2006, Close announced that he was retiring from politics In the 2007 election he was succeeded as Alliance Party Lagan Valley Assembly representative by current Mayor of Lisburn, Councillor Trevor Lunn.
Close was succeeded as Mayor of Lisburn by Harry Lewis.