Jon Burrows looks set to become next leader | UK News

Jon Burrows looks set to become the next leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) after Robbie Butler said he will not be entering any leadership contest.

Butler, who is the party’s current deputy leader, said it had become apparent that the direction many in the party want to pursue would be under a “different leadership style” than his.

He added: “To this end I will not be offering my name for leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.”

Burrows announced his candidacy last week, saying that under his leadership the UUP would be “clear, credible and on the front foot”.

Nominations for the leadership close on Thursday, with an extraordinary general meeting set for 31 January to choose a new leader and deputy leader.

Burrows has been an assembly member since last summer when he was co-opted to replace Colin Crawford in North Antrim.

If ratified by party members at the end of this month, Burrows will be the fifth consecutive leader to take over the UUP without a contest.

His running mate for deputy leader, Diana Armstrong, said she was backing him because the party “needs fresh thinking”.

Her constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone represents a large swathe of grassroots UUP voters.

In his statement, Butler said when Mike Nesbitt announced his intention to stand down as leader earlier this month he took time to engage with colleagues across the party.

“It quickly became clear that there was significant support for me to stand for the leadership,” he added, saying support ran across all levels of the UUP.

However, Butler said through those conversations it had become apparent to his team that the direction many within the party “now wish to pursue would be under a different leadership style and new focus”.

He said he remains loyal to the cause of enlarging the pro-Union voting block and that he would “engage honestly and with good conscience” in the days ahead to understand the direction of any new leadership team whilst “demonstrating the credo: country first, party second”.

Butler has been an assembly member for Lagan Valley since 2016, as well as the UUP’s Chief Whip at one stage and now deputy leader.

Burrows served as a senior police officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) until his retirement in 2021.

He is a strong advocate on behalf of rank and file police officers.

Since retiring from the PSNI, he has become a regular media contributor on policing issues.

He replaced Colin Crawford who resigned from the party over a press release issued in his name after disorder in Ballymena.

Armstrong has been an MLA since September 2024, when she was co-opted to replace former Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott, after he was given a life peerage.

She is the only female MLA the UUP has at Stormont.

Armstrong’s political career began in 2016 when she was co-opted onto Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. She was again re-elected in 2023.

Her father Harry West was a former unionist MP and leader of the UUP between 1974 and 1979.

Speaking after the announcement, Armstrong said she “does not underestimate the significance” of being nominated as the first female deputy leader in the 101 year history of the Ulster Unionist Party.