Jon Burrows joins race for UUP leadership

The North Antrim assembly member (MLA) Jon Burrows is in the running to become the next leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

Burrows, a former senior police officer who only joined the party last summer, made the announcement at Stormont on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the party said it will have an extraordinary general meeting on 31 January and elect a new leader and deputy leader then after Mike Nesbitt announced he would be standing down.

Burrows has been an MLA since July when he was co-opted to replace Colin Crawford in North Antrim.

Addressing the media at a press conference, he described himself as an "unapologetic unionist who will always advocate confidently for Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom".

Under his leadership, Burrows said the UUP will be "clear, credible and on the front foot".

He said his priorities would be competence and delivery, cutting waste, economic growth, and better public services.

Burrows also said he would seek to attract more women and young people to the UUP.

"One female MLA out of nine is not good enough. I will address these issues with urgency", he said.

Burrows also claimed that he would "have a structured work experience programme, that's going to mean every school in Northern Ireland can apply to the Ulster Unionist Party".

Despite telling Talkback in August he had no intention of being the UUP leader, Burrows said "things change, I've settled well into politics, I feel comfortable in it, I've had many people say to me: 'Would you consider going for the leadership?'

"I've weighed it up. I think there's a time that this party needs the leadership I can bring.

"There are a great deal of people who are turned off by our politics, who have seen Stormont not deliver, who see politicians who sit and debate international affairs, while the very basics in Northern Ireland are not done. I want to reconnect with those voters".

Formal nominations opened on Wednesday and will close on 15 January.

As part of this process, the party will also host two internal, members-only, hustings events to allow prospective candidates to engage directly with the membership.

There has also been speculation that the current deputy leader, Robbie Butler, who is from the liberal wing of the party will stand for the leadership.

BBC News NI understands that both Burrows and Butler approached Diana Armstrong to be their running mate.

Her constituency represents a large swathe of grassroots UUP voters who will have a say in any contest.

Armstrong refused to comment on those discussions but said she had backed Burrows because he is a man of integrity and that the party needed "fresh thinking".

Burrows rejected suggestions that some members of his party are unhappy that he is standing for the leadership despite never having won an election.

He said it was "legitimate" for him to put his name forward, and that he intended to win the leadership and take the party forward.

He added that he believes it is important that there is a leadership contest, as opposed to a coronation if no-one else puts their name into the mix.

"Let's have a contest, then unite and deliver for people," said Burrows.

Asked about electoral pacts with other unionist parties, he said he was not seeking to lead the UUP simply to merge it with other parties.

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.

Burrows said the Fermanagh and South Tyrone assembly member Diana Armstrong would be his running mate for deputy leader.

He described Armstrong as a "proven politician and a successful entrepreneur".

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.

Armstrong said that if elected, she would "speak for women, rural communities and for the West".

Armstrong conceded that "tough decisions will have to be made", but said the public are ready for a "rejuvenated Ulster Unionist Party, confident in its purpose, clear in its direction and ambitious for the future".

Jon Burrows has only been an MLA for 157 days so stepping up and hoping to lead a party which this time last year he wasn't even a member of has prompted questions.

As a former head of internal discipline within the PSNI, such skills may come in handy given reports of unhappiness among some in UUP ranks about his decision to stand.

It's not clear yet if Robbie Butler - the party's deputy leader who has been an MLA for a decade - still plans to throw his hat into the ring.

Burrows thinks competition can only be healthy and for a party that hasn't had a leadership contest since 2012, yet another coronation would certainly make for poor optics.

At the press conference he also issued a somewhat unusual parting message to the media, saying: "If you have someone who claims to be from my camp talking down one of my colleagues, please check with me it's not from my team, it's not said on my behalf and I will not run down my colleagues."

Let's see if that appeal to keep the campaign clean is followed through or falls on deaf ears.