{"id":263967,"date":"2026-01-02T20:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/263967\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T20:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:14:07","slug":"mike-nesbitt-to-step-down-as-leader-of-ulster-unionist-party-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/263967\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Nesbitt to step down as leader of Ulster Unionist Party \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Nesbitt <\/a>is to step down as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party<\/a>, it has been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Mr Nesbitt, the current Stormont Minister of Health<\/a>, informed party officers and MLAs of his decision on Friday morning in a move that was expected.<\/p>\n

It is understood Mr Nesbitt <\/a>wants to remain in his portfolio until next year, but that decision rests with his successor.<\/p>\n

The party described his departure as a \u201cpivotal moment\u201d as it prepares for the Northern Ireland Assembly elections next year.<\/p>\n

Mr Nesbitt had recently indicated he would make a decision on his political future by this month.<\/p>\n

Elected as UUP leader in 2024, he was the sole candidate after his predecessor Doug Beattie unexpectedly quit over \u201cirreconcilable differences\u201d with party officers. He was the first leader to hold the position for a second time after previously leading the party between 2012 and 2017.<\/p>\n

The former broadcast journalist is the MLA for Strangford.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Mr Nesbitt said he retook the leadership role as a short-term job to get the party \u201cmatch fit\u201d for the next election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the next five-year Assembly mandate will end in \u201cthe month I hope to celebrate my 75th birthday\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a commitment to full-time politics I just do not feel I can make. And I would not be comfortably seeking a vote knowing that privately I was intending to retire during the mandate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Contenders for the UUP leader position are the party\u2019s deputy leader Robbie Butler and former PSNI officer Jon Burrows, who was co-opted on to the North Antrim MLA seat last July.<\/p>\n

The last UUP leadership contest was in 2012, when Mr Nesbitt beat John McCallister<\/p>\n

Once the dominant force within unionism, the party has suffered a series of humiliating election defeats and has had four party leaders in just six years.<\/p>\n

Mr Nesbitt quit the role in 2017 following disappointing results at the Assembly polls.<\/p>\n

He was the first UUP leader who was not a member of the Orange Order and sat on the more liberal wing of the party.<\/p>\n

The former UTV news anchor left broadcasting in 2006 and was appointed as a commissioner of Victims and Survivors in 2008, an Assembly role designed to support Troubles\u2019 victims.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the UUP said party officers would outline the process for leadership selection \u201censuring an inclusive, engaging and seamless transition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Party chairman Tom Elliott said it was \u201cdeeply grateful\u201d to Mr Nesbitt for his decades of service and \u201cunwavering dedication to improving our society\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we enter 2026, we look forward to building on the strong platform he has created,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur next leader will champion forward-looking unionism, safeguarding Northern Ireland\u2019s place in the UK while promoting prosperity, reconciliation, and a shared future for all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Nesbitt is to step down as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, it has been confirmed. Mr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,71278,5,954,7,8,39896,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-263967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-mike-nesbitt","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-northern-ireland","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-ulster-unionist-party","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news","25":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115827340998143111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}