UUP leader Doug Beattie says party will 'get rid' of elected member who leaked email

Doug Beattie said he didn’t know who the individual was but said that it was an elected representative – adding that as soon as he finds out who that person is, they will “no longer be in the party”.

Speaking to BBC’s Chris Buckler, Mr Beattie said “There is somebody within my party – who is an elected representative – who thought it was a good idea to leak an email that I put out to all of our elected representatives. That person lacks integrity. That person is part of the problem that I’m actually talking to you now about”.

Mr Beattie was asked who he believed was trying to cause problems within the party – and whether they were trying to cause problems specifically for him.

He said: "The answer is I don’t know who it is – because as soon as I find out who it is – then they will no longer be in the party. And they’ll go through processes to get rid of them. That person lacks integrity. Because if they had integrity they would come to me and stand in front of me and say ‘I have a problem with you as leader, and this is my problem’ – and I would address that. I have an open door to every single member of our party, be they a member or be they an elected member. That’s an individual within the party, they have to address their integrity themselves.”

The Upper Bann MLA said he was looking at the wider message of the party including making sure that party councillors, press and policy staff, the party officers and the MLA group are ‘gelled’. He said “I think it’s a sensible and normal way to do business, and that’s what I’m doing”.

The interview followed reports in the Belfast Telegraph citing a leaked email on a ‘crisis meeting’ over how personal relationships are affecting the party. The email reportedly said that councillors and MLAs were not ‘singing off the same hymn sheet’ on many issues.

Earlier this year an internal party report marked exclusively for the leader was also leaked to the media.