FORMER UTV news anchorman Mike Nesbitt was elected new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party on Saturday.
Mr Nesbitt, who was first elected to the Northern Assembly last year and is only three years in the party, became the 15th leader of the UUP. He follows in the path of party giants such as Edward Carson, James Craig and David Trimble. Mr Nesbitt secured 536 votes at the UUP annual general meeting in the Ramada Hotel in south Belfast; his sole opponent, South Down MLA John McCallister, polled 129 votes.
Mr Nesbitt (54) takes over from Fermanagh-South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott, who under pressure last month announced that he was standing down after just 18 months in the post. The Strangford MLA is the first UUP leader not to be a member of the Orange Order.
None of the unionist leaders now at Stormont is in the order.
Mr Nesbitt, who ahead of the vote delivered an assured speech to almost 700 delegates, takes over the UUP at probably the worst time in its 107-year-old history. It has just 15 Assembly members and no MPs.
This was reflected by a quip from Mr McCallister who told delegates how Mr Elliott commiserated with him, and how he retorted, “Mike’s the one in real trouble”. Mr Nesbitt now must regenerate a party which for most of 100 years was the dominant political force in the North.
He will be able to take some heart that there were signs of vitality on Saturday and that the contest brought a considerable degree of fire back into the UUP.
Delegates were faced with the “bold and radical” policies offered by Mr McCallister, which contrasted with Mr Nesbitt’s. These involved abandoning the party’s single ministry and moving into opposition in the Assembly, and the steadier “hold what we have” agenda advanced by Mr Nesbitt.
During the leadership election campaign Mr McCallister – who made additional news last week by delivering his baby son Harry at home after his wife Jane went into premature labour – showed determination and vision, offering liberal unionist policies and pledging to maintain clear divisions between the UUP and DUP.
Ultimately, delegates opted for Mr Nesbitt to lead them in their battle to reclaim some of the ground lost to the DUP and also to Alliance. The new leader is married to former broadcaster Lynda Bryans and is well known in the North. He is a confident speaker and impressed delegates, although he told them the hard truth that recovery would be difficult.
“Be clear, there is no quick fix, there is no big idea . . . the only big idea is . . . committing to the long haul of hard work,” he said.
He offered no specific new policies but was unambiguous about his ambition for the party: to “retake the office of First Minister”.
“I want us to reach out to become the party of choice for every pro-union voter in Northern Ireland, including those who still say they want a united Ireland, but privately accept there is no longer a single reason not to enjoy their continued membership of the United Kingdom,” he said.
Mr Nesbitt offered hope to a previously dispirited party. He reassured delegates that setbacks the UUP had endured in helping cement the peace and the Belfast Agreement – only to see the previously anti-agreement DUP ultimately gain the big political reward – were now at an end.
“The 14 years of pain, the kickings on the doorstep, the price we had to pay for the Belfast Agreement – it is over,” he said. “We bank what we have achieved – and I am proud this party brought peace – and I see many of the faces who did it. And I ask you to support me . . . what I want to do is lead us back, on merit, to the heart of government in our councils, in Europe, Westminster and Stormont.”
