Letter: Next UUP leader must challenge their critics if they want to succeed in shaping the party’s narrative
A letter from Edward Ferrin:
The announcement by Mike Nesbitt to resign as UUP leader was not a surprise to many as he indicated in the months hence that he had no intention of leading the party into next year’s elections.
Now the party must probably choose between Robbie Butler – long-serving deputy leader - and Jon Burrows, the MLA for North Antrim.
The battle lines are clear – Butler represents a continuation of the UUP’s more moderate unionism while Burrows represents a hardening of UUP policy, placing it closer to that of the DUP and TUV.
The electoral consequences are clear: a victory for Butler would be bad news for Alliance and a victory for Burrows would be good news for a more united unionist platform in the 2027 elections.
The most important person in the whole UUP leadership debate has not been Butler or Burrows. Instead, Diana Armstrong – as the UUP’s sole female MLA and representative from Fermanagh and South Tyrone – is the most important person in the leadership debate.
Has her endorsement of Jon Burrows tipped the Fermanagh UUP members – who make up a disproportionately significant amount of the Ulster Unionist Council - behind a Burrows victory? It would seem that way.
Her endorsement is a shock to many Butler supporters and shows just how much some in the UUP itself have underestimated her conservative credentials.
The problem for both potential candidates for leader is clear: can Robbie Butler explain what he believes his leadership will deliver for the UUP in electoral terms and can Jon Burrows show his programme for the UUP is grounded in the grassroots membership?
If we go off the simple premise of fairness, you will have to say Robbie Butler deserves his chance at leading his party after serving as a loyal deputy for most of his political career. However, politics is not fair, and many will say that Butler had his chance to be leader in 2019, 2021 and 2024 but didn’t take it.
Jon Burrows has every right as a UUP representative to put his hat into the ring for the leadership.
The fundamental problems that have besieged UUP leaders throughout the years remain – the party’s poor leadership structures, the party’s poor election machine and the party’s general inability to define what it stands for. The solution to each of those requires fundamental changes to the UUP’s constitution.
The next party leader must challenge their internal critics head on to succeed in establishing their vision for the party. The lesson of Doug Beattie’s resignation in 2024 was clear: a UUP leader will only succeed in shaping the party’s narrative if they challenge their internal critics head on.
The new UUP leader has 12 months to make a dire election campaign into a valiant effort from their party. That includes reducing the number of UUP candidates to the bare minimum in each constituency to end the mad idea that the UUP can compete with their rivals for two or three seats in one area.
Simple changes in election tactics like this could make a bad election result into a huge moral boost for a flailing party.
Whomever succeeds at becoming the next UUP leader, their job will not be easy.
Edward Ferrin, Belfast BT14