With Lady Sylvia Hermon out of the running, Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor, runs the rule over potential leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party
David Trimble failed where so many party leaders before him have failed: he left without paving the way for his chosen successor. Emerging from 10 years of single-minded leadership, his party now faces into a leadership contest in dire need of a clean break from a tumultuous past and for which it seems utterly unprepared.
There was something of a show of unity at last Saturday's meeting of the 200-strong party executive when Trimble tendered his resignation before quitting the stage. His departure, from both his position and the meeting, was marked by a standing ovation and "prolonged applause". But almost immediately the post-Trimble era kicked in with a vengeance.
The 24-member Assembly group, for so long dominated - if not sidelined - by Trimble, tried to assert itself, tabling a motion and stating its requirement for the next leadership. Others - Lord Kilclooney, Sir Reg Empey, Lady Sylvia - let it be known they are still around and ought to be counted in.
Lady Sylvia has presented herself as the face most likely to represent a clean break from the past. Yet for 3½ hours at Saturday's meeting, she waited for a hint of recognition of her success in North Down. An articulate advocate of the need for change in style and direction, she seemed to draw up a job description that she alone could have filled. But she has now made it clear that she will not be contesting the leadership.
Sir Reg cannot be ruled out and may yet emerge as a prime contender. But some party members view him as wanting the leadership to be handed to him. They would rather he showed more sense of leadership vocation, fought for it and then fashioned it in his own image. The question also remains as to whether someone so closely aligned with the ancien regime can offer the new direction the party says it now needs?
Lord Kilclooney, the former Strangford MP John Taylor, sees himself as having potential as an interim leader pending a new leadership election next spring at the party's agm. The former deputy leader at least offers a Westminster presence in the House of Lords, but many remain convinced that the choice of an interim leader would signal the party's inability to find a strong leader to match the DUP's leading figures.
Jim Nicholson, the party's MEP, seems not to figure in anyone's calculations despite his success in saving a UUP quota in the face of the bulldozing advance by the Democratic Unionists in last year's European election.
Former minister Michael McGimpsey has ruled himself out while David McNarry, another Trimble associate, is said not to have momentum behind his bid.
Many Ulster Unionists agree on the need for a new broom; yet they cannot suggest a name who could carry out the job. They are strong on identifying needs, but weak on the ideas needed to meet those needs.
More fundamentally though, the Ulster Unionists need to define clearly what they are about and why they exist. Without a clear sense of purpose, those inclined to vote for the party will be demoralised and many will simply, as one key player explained, "prefer to dig the garden".
The UUP has made disastrous efforts to mark out its own territory and to distance itself from the DUP. Its Westminster and local government election slogan claimed that only "decent people" voted Ulster Unionist, a move which backfired so badly that anecdotal evidence has it that DUP members offered to hang up UUP posters, knowing the reaction would help Dr Paisley's candidates.
"Decent" unionists voted DUP in large numbers on May 5th and clearly feel no guilt having done so - a reality which must prompt UUP soul-searching.