Feuding within Ulster Unionists 'would make an Eastenders' scriptwriter blush'

If metaphorically shooting yourself in the foot had real-world consequences the Ulster Unionist party (UUP) would walk with a permanent limp.

In the long, inglorious history of political self-destruction its record takes some beating.

Exhibit One: The internal civil war over the Good Friday Agreement which ended with the resignation of scores of elected representatives and members, mostly to the benefit of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which then proceeded to steal the UUP's clothes and work the power-sharing institutions they had so fiercely opposed.

(Note: The DUP would say it only did so after securing the St Andrews Agreement which saw Sinn Féin commit to fully endorse the Police Service of Northern Ireland, but still...)

Exhibit Two: The loss of the UUP's sole Westminster MP Lady Sylvia Hermon who quit over the party's electoral pact with the Conservatives in 2010 which failed to yield a single seat. Looked like madness then and still does today.

Exhibit Three: The deselection of East Londonderry MLA David McClarty in 2011 who then went on to win the seat as an Independent. Following his death in 2014 the seat passed to his parliamentary assistant Claire Sugden who still holds it.

Sudgen told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme: "He [David McClarty] was treated really poorly by the party which led to him becoming independent and they've lost that seat."

That seat is gone nearly 15 years.

"So I think the party maybe needs to get a grip on how its treating its MLAs, its elected representatives, but ultimately the party needs to decide what it is, what it wants to be."

Which brings us to 2026 and Doug Beattie who did not hang around to be deselected before jumping ship.

At the moment the betting is against him doing a David McClarty in Upper Bann and getting elected as an Independent.

But even if he fails there is peril for his former party who could yet lose the seat if he splits the vote.

At the moment, another self-inflicted wound is a distinct possibility. And history will tell the Ulster Unionists that once seats are lost they rarely come back.

All of this is manna for the other unionist parties.

Less so the TUV but certainly the DUP coming off the back of a poor general election performance in 2024 and recent polling which showed the new Ulster Unionist leader, Jon Burrows, being more popular than his unionist counterparts Gavin Robinson and Jim Allister.

But that was before the party's latest bout of internecine feuding which makes the average family wedding dispute look like a tea party.

Alex Kane, the party's former director of communication, said he finds the situation frustrating.

"When will they realise that successful parties cannot do that?" he asked.

Kane added: "Over and over we learn the lesson that this is a party which cannot be led".

When Burrows became leader at the end of January he said that under his leadership the party would be "clear, credible and on the front foot".

Four months on, that looks even more optimistic than it sounded then.

Beattie is gone; others may yet follow and the party is dominating the news agenda courtesy of an undignified highly-public squabble that would make an Eastenders' scriptwriter blush.

Five years ago the DUP briefly allowed itself to descend into similar unedifying territory with three leaders in five weeks as party factions battled for control.

Anyone who thinks those fault lines don't still exist beneath the surface in the DUP don't live in the world of real politick.

It's just the party has learned the lesson the Ulster Unionists never have. Self-preservation is better than no preservation.

Many years ago in the early 2000s I covered an Upper Bann Assembly election selection meeting.

The big story then was that the then first minister, Ulster Unionist leader and Nobel laureate David Trimble, had been beaten into second place by the much lesser known George Savage.

The Ulster Unionists at that time held three of the six seats in Upper Bann and could afford to be indulgent.

In 2026 former party leader and feted war veteran Doug Beattie was facing defeat, this time to George Savage's son Kyle, a local councillor.

It won't now happen since Beattie is gone. Whether the Ulster Unionists' last remaining seat in the constituency goes with him we will find out next May.