I regret persuading 'vindictive' Burrows to join party, says Beattie

Doug Beattie has said he regrets persuading Jon Burrows to join the Ulster Unionist Party and described him as "vindictive," following his departure from the party.

Beattie said he had been left "saddened and a little bit angry" after he stepped away from the UUP on Sunday. He had said it had become clear his membership was no longer "tenable".

The former party leader and Upper Bann assembly member had been facing the prospect of being deselected by his constituency association ahead of the next assembly election.

In a letter sent to party leader Jon Burrows on Sunday, Beattie said it was with "genuine sadness" that he was tendering his resignation with immediate effect.

Beattie told BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show on Monday that there was "an insidious element within the party who have been continually briefing against me with regards to selections and other issues".

A UUP spokesperson confirmed on Sunday they had received his resignation and thanked him for "his many years of service to his country and to the party".

He was first elected as an assembly member to Stormont in 2016, having previously been a councillor for the UUP.

Beattie said he had a long-standing relationship with Burrows and had persuaded him to join the party before he was selected to replace Colin Crawford as the MLA for North Antrim.

He now says he "regretted doing that".

"Having coming in, I see a marked change in the individual," he added.

"He got a lot of help from many people, he suddenly changed to not playing with the team in my mind and being more interested in the Jon Burrows show."

Last month, BBC News NI revealed he was facing deselection by his constituency association, in favour of another candidate, Kyle Savage, a councillor on Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council.

He said he was nearly "tipped over the edge " by a telephone call last Thursday in which Burrows told him he was reopening "a disciplinary case against me for tweets which I apologised for four years ago and had considerable media attention".

Beattie said it was only after he submitted his resignation letter on Sunday morning that he learned the party management board had already decided to suspend him.

"In many ways, whether I had resigned or not, I would not have been able to apply to run in Upper Bann, because I would have been under disciplinary watch and that means I couldn't have put my name in.

"I didn't know any of this, when I wrote my letter."

Beattie told The Nolan Show he thought Burrows was "vindictive" and it was a "vindictive manner" to tell him that he was "going to reopen a historical case from four years ago".

In his resignation letter, Beattie said he no longer felt "at home within the party he led for three years".

He said that over the last 12 years he had made many "valued friendships" within the UUP but that over the past two years he had noticed a "marked difference" in relations between the party management board, the constituency associations, the party's councillor association and the MLA group at Stormont.

He said this had become "accelerated" after Burrows became party leader earlier this year, claiming the party's MLAs were "increasingly marginalised, ignored, isolated and discredited".

The Upper Bann assembly member said even as he raised concerns directly with Burrows, an "insidious campaign of rumour and gossip" was being waged against him.

In a statement, a UUP spokesperson said they had received the resignation today and thanked Beattie "for his many years of service to his country and to the party".

"We wish him well," it continued.

However, the spokesperson said that "the party does not accept the characterisation of recent events set out in Mr Beattie's letter.

"The party management board met on Thursday evening to consider serious concerns about Mr Beattie's conduct and judgement.

"The board unanimously agreed a course of action, which was due to be communicated to Mr Beattie by the party leader on Monday.

"Mr Beattie's resignation has overtaken that process."