{"id":223626,"date":"2026-01-02T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T15:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223626\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T15:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T15:21:10","slug":"mike-nesbitt-to-stand-down-as-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223626\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Nesbitt to stand down as leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gareth GordonBBC News NI political correspondent<\/p>\n

\"PAPA<\/p>\n

Mike Nesbitt has been UUP leader since August 2024, but it was his second stint in the role<\/p>\n

Mike Nesbitt is to stand down as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.<\/p>\n

He informed MLAs and party officers on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

It is understood he wants to remain as health minister until the next assembly elections in May 2027 but that decision will be down to his successor.<\/p>\n

In a statement, he said: “The next five-year mandate stretches to May 2032, the month I hope to celebrate my 75th birthday. That’s a commitment to full-time politics I just do not feel I can make.”<\/p>\n

He added: “I would not be comfortably seeking a vote knowing that privately I was intending to retire during the mandate.”<\/p>\n

He also said: “I retook the leadership to do a short-term job of getting the party match fit for the forthcoming election campaign. <\/p>\n

“That job is now done so the time is right to select the politician who will lead us into the May 2027 polls promoting our brand of confident, responsible unionism.”<\/p>\n

Nesbitt has been UUP leader since August 2024<\/a> and it was his second stint in the role.<\/p>\n

He won the contest in 2012, but quit in 2017 after disappointing assembly election results.<\/p>\n

Since then, Robin Swann<\/a>, Steve Aiken<\/a>, Doug Beattie<\/a> and Nesbitt again have been handed the leadership unopposed with no noticeable upturn in the once-mighty party’s fortunes.<\/p>\n

A party spokesperson described Nesbitt’s decision to step down as a “pivotal moment”.<\/p>\n

“Party officers will shortly outline the leadership selection process, ensuring an inclusive, engaging and seamless transition.”<\/p>\n

Analysis: What chance does a new leader have?<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/PABBC\/PA<\/p>\n

Deputy leader Robbie Butler (left) is from the liberal wing of the party and Jon Burrows (right) has been an MLA since July when he was co-opted in<\/p>\n

Speculation on who might follow will now fall on two characters who could hardly contrast more.<\/p>\n

The deputy leader, Robbie Butler, is from the liberal wing of the party. He was brought into politics by Nesbitt during his first tenure as leader and studiously avoids controversy.<\/p>\n

Jon Burrows on the other hand seems to positively relish it.<\/p>\n

The former police officer has only been an MLA since July when he was co-opted to replace Colin Crawford<\/a> in North Antrim but he’s made up for lost time with frequent and often controversial statements on a wide range of issues.<\/p>\n

If both men decide to go for the job it would mean the first leadership contest in the UUP since 2012 when Nesbitt triumphed over John McCallister<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"PA\/BBC\/PAPA\/BBC\/PA<\/p>\n

Robin Swann, (left) Steve Aiken, (centre) and Doug Beattie (right) were, like Nesbitt, all handed the leadership unopposed<\/p>\n

Nesbitt probably found reviving the party whilst running the health department one impossible job too many.<\/p>\n

He said several months ago that he would decide by January at the latest “in fairness to whoever might be coming in”.<\/p>\n

He will hope the new leader acquiesces to his plea to be allowed to remain in the job until next May.<\/p>\n

Like his predecessor in the UUP hot seat Doug Beattie, he was a progressive leader.<\/p>\n

Robbie Butler would represent a continuation of that trend.<\/p>\n

But Jon Burrows is much more of an unknown quantity.<\/p>\n

In the world of the Ulster Unionist Party it is one never ending game of Follow The Leader.<\/p>\n

If the ever lengthening list of ex-UUP leaders couldn’t mount a comeback what chance do they have?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gareth GordonBBC News NI political correspondent PA Mike Nesbitt has been UUP leader since August 2024, but it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-223626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}