Jim Wells: Why I once backed Diane Forsythe ... but now I don’t

Mr Wells resigned this week from the DUP in protest at the party selecting Diane Forsythe to stand in the constituency.

Supporters of Ms Forsythe have questioned why Mr Wells based his defection from the DUP on her candidacy given that he had strongly supported her in the 2017 general election.

On Thursday Mr Wells told the News Letter that “quite simply I now know the enforced candidate much better and the experience has convinced me that she is not someone who I can support.”

He has alleged that Ms Forsythe “has no experience of elected office” and “does not share the views of many DUP voters on social issues.”

The former DUP MLA who served the party at council level and in the Assembly for 46 years has claimed Ms Forsythe was “enforced and imposed” on the party’s South Down Association by the leadership.

But Ms Forsythe’s supporters countered by claiming she is a popular figure who increased the DUP’s share of the vote in South Down in the 2017 general election by an extra 9 percent.

In response to his DUP critics in South Down, Mr Wells said: “I have been branded an old fashioned traditionalist by many commentators but it is worth pointing out that everyone in South Down knows my views on social issues, and at the last Assembly election I recorded my highest vote ever.”

He added that “the candidate imposed on South Down would never have been selected or endorsed by the DUP members in South Down and that is why the Party Officers decided not to consult anyone apart from Diane Forsythe.”

Mr Wells has now endorsed the TUV candidate Harry McKee for South Down on 5 May. He has also expressed a desire to join Traditional Unionist Voice.

TUV leader Jim Allister told the News Letter yesterday that he believed Mr Wells is “in tune” with his party’s thinking and will consider any application the ex DUP veteran sends to his party.

Diane Forsythe’s supporters released a video this week from just before the 2017 general election in which Mr Wells offers words of support for her candidacy. In the video Mr Wells describes Ms Forsythe as an “excellent candidate.”