UUP ex-leaders warn against reading too much into exit of party policy boss - as former MLA says it will leave members questioning direction

Tom Elliott was speaking after news emerged that Mr Moore – who had been in the post for just over a decade – was leaving to take up a new job with the business lobby group The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

But former UUP MLA Harold McKee indicated that his exit will leave many members wondering about the party’s direction.

Mr Moore's departure comes about two weeks after north Down councillor Carl McClean quit the UUP in protest at how it was being led, likening it to “Alliance with flags”. He went on to join the DUP.

It also comes in the immediate wake of a furore around remarks by leader Doug Beattie about the Protocol.

Those comments, which Mr Beattie made to the BBC on Sunday, were widely interpreted as meaning that he did not believe the Protocol posed a threat the Union.

The following day, amidst a storm of criticism, he clarified his remarks in an interview with the News Letter, saying he does in fact think the Protocol has damaged the Union – just that it is not going to lead to an imminent united Ireland.

Mr Moore issued a statement online saying he was “absolutely thrilled to be appointed as the head of public affairs for FSB Northern Ireland”, and that it was “an immense privilege to be joining such a motivated, professionally led, forward-thinking organisation”.

His statement made no mention of the UUP, and the UUP indicated it would not be saying anything on his departure, although it is understood he left the party on good terms.

Mr Elliott said: "I've known John for many, many years. I suppose as well as being a work colleague he's been a friend as well.

"Certainly I as sorry to see him leave the party. I just would wish him well with it."

As to how Mr Moore's departure bodes for the UUP, he said: "Clearly, people come and go in parties, whether that's elected representatives or staff members.

"You only have to look at the DUP: Richard Bullick gone, and many others that were special advisors and that. So those things do happen in all parties.

"I wouldn't put too much emphasis on that. Obviously, he's a loss to the party – he was a great worker, he was always on the ground.

"He'll be a loss in that sense. But people come and go. We can't put too much reliance on an individual aspect like that."

Steve Aiken, another former leader, was asked what Mr Moore's departure means.

"He's just taken on a new job, it's not a political thing at all," he said.

Harold McKee, a former UUP MLA who served during 2016 and 2017 suggested the furore around Mr Beattie's Protocol comments on Sunday could have been an early symptom of Mr Moore's departure.

"Is it one of the reasons Doug Beattie has taken the direction he's taken – that he hadn't got John Moore by his side?" he asked.

"It won't be a massive surprise, Doug coming out with statements like that... He obviously signed the declaration of the four unionist leaders, and I said all along that he didn't stand by what he was signing.

"The other unionist leaders stood by it hard and fast, but in the end Doug seemed to be sliding. He certainly wavered from that."

This is a reference to September 2021 statement signed by the leaders of the DUP, UUP, TUV and PUP, setting out “our unalterable position that the Protocol must be rejected and replaced by arrangements which fully respect Northern Ireland’s position as a constituent and integral part of the United Kingdom”.

As to what all these latest developments mean for the future of the UUP, Mr McKee (who now sits as a TUV councillor in The Mournes) said: "It speaks volumes.

"I know Carl McClean, a good lad. He always seems switched on... he's been a massive blow.

"[John Moore] was driving the policies, he was lead man, the lead media man, he kept the whole thing right.

"So now he's gone, I'm not too sure where that's going. And people here sitting in the UUP should be saying that: 'Where are we going here?'"