Mike Nesbitt confirmed as new UUP leader - as some party officers face an uncertain future

At a press conference outside Stormont on Friday afternoon, the broadcaster-turned-politician said he was “very confident” that he has the support of “the vast majority if not all” of the UUP’s elected representatives.

However, he said the party had encouraged the “narrative” that it was divided by washing its dirty linen in public – and appealed for that to stop.

As reported by the News Letter earlier this week, Mr Nesbitt confirmed that he intends to widen out the responsibility of leading the party. He announced he will be looking to senior party colleagues “to form a leadership team”, adding: “we will divide up all the responsibilities and all the actions accordingly”.

Reform of the party structures will also be high on the new leader’s agenda.

His second stint as leader came after Doug Beattie quit over a clash with the party’s officer team.

Now that Mr Nesbitt is leader certain roles on that body – such as that of the party chair – are no longer filled. He will have to decide whether some of those who Doug Beattie had “irreconcilable differences” with will be reappointed or replaced.

As most of the differences were about personalities rather than policy, some could remain in position.

The new leader will have five selections on the fourteen member body, with the ability to fill the roles of party chair and treasurer – and any two of the other positions. A fifth change could come from his pick for the party whip in the Assembly, who will also sit on the officer team.

After Doug Beattie’s resignation the party initiated a media ‘blackout’ – in an attempt to stop internal differences overshadowing the hunt for a new leader.

It was largely successful, with no major public divisions emerging between its senior elected representatives. However, a spat between party officer Kate Evans and then party chair Jill Macauley made media headlines at a time when the party had been keen to focus on the future.

Jill Macauley issued a letter to constituency office chairs rejecting Mr Beattie’s claim of “irreconcilable differences” between himself and the officers – saying they had “worked hard to seek a positive outcome”.

It quickly leaked to the press, and was followed by party officer Ms Evans - a Doug Beattie loyalist - posting on social media platform X that the party chair “should retract what she has said and keep it internal. When she does that, so will I”.

In his first press conference, Mike Nesbitt told journalists that he is “still incredibly energised by and motivated by being the health minister and that health brief”.

“I think that we’re now very close to finalising the plan for the rest of the mandate,” he said.

“Professor Bengoa will be coming back in early October, that will be the kick start to me saying, ‘this is what I’m going to be doing for the rest of this mandate through to May 2027’.

“Meanwhile there are other things to be done with the party, but as I say, I don’t think the challenge of the party is as bad as we have allowed it to be perceived to be over the last number of weeks.”

Mr Nesbitt wouldn’t say whether he had received the endorsement of the outgoing leader Doug Beattie.

“I’m not going to discuss Doug because I know Colum (Eastwood) has made clear he wants Claire (Hanna) to take over the SDLP, but there’s a long-standing tradition in our party that an outgoing leader does not try and influence the decision of the party as to who should be the successor.”

He added: “I’m more than happy to come back into the role. I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for in 2012, I do now and I am confident that I can do a job for the Ulster Unionist Party, for the people who vote for us and more generally for the people of Northern Ireland.”

After considering the role, deputy leader Robbie Butler decided against throwing his hat in the ring. After consulting others in the party’s Stormont team he decided to throw his support behind Mr Nesbitt’s bid – saying he was the best person for the job “at this time”.

That left Mike Nesbitt with a clear run at the leadership, and given that he intends to keep the party broadly on the course established by Doug Beattie and previous leaders – no challenger emerged.

Anyone wanting to take him on for the post, and force it to a decision by the Ulster Unionist Council, would have needed the support of 35 fully paid up members, spread across nine constituencies in Northern Ireland.