Doug Beattie ratified as Ulster Unionist Party leader
Doug Beattie has been unanimously ratified as the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, taking over the reins from Steve Aiken following his resignation.
Party chairman Danny Kennedy confirmed the decision following what he described as a “very positive meeting” of the UUP council at its east Belfast headquarters on Thursday evening.
Mr Beattie ended up unopposed in the leadership race after potential contender Robbie Butler ruled himself out.
The Lagan Valley MLA has already been appointed as Mr Beattie’s deputy and will also continue to serve as the party’s chief whip.
Mr Beattie told the Press Association that his management style may be “rough around the edges”, but that it would help him engage with voters.
“My CV is not a political CV, it’s a completely different type of CV,” the former soldier said.
“My management and leadership styles are very different. I think I’m a little bit rough around the edges. I think people like that rough around the edges.
“So I think there’s a manner in which I could help engage. Why is that important? Because if I can engage, then I can tell people what our policies are.
“When people can see what our policies are, they will understand what the Ulster Unionist Party is all about.”
Elsewhere in Belfast, Edwin Poots has been ratified as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, succeeding Arlene Foster after her resignation following an internal party coup.
Earlier, Mr Beattie took aim at the manner of their leadership contest.
“We’ve gone through a process which is always going to be brutal, but you don’t have to make it worse than it needs to be,” he said.
“You can do this in a sensible pragmatic way.”
He added: “For the DUP to deal with this afterwards, I think they’ve got it wrong, but I think we’ve done it the right way.”