Politics

Mike Nesbitt: The TV presenter who became UUP leader

The unionist began his career as a news anchorman, before entering politics in 2010

The UUP’s Mike Nesbitt, followed by his wife Lynda Bryans and son PJ Nesbitt, after announcing his resignation as party leader at the Park Avenue Hotel, Belfast. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Fri Mar 3 2017 - 21:30

Mike Nesbitt was a former television anchorman who abandoned broadcasting for public service.

He was born in 1957 in Belfast. Before becoming a politician, he had a long and varied career in television, presenting the evening news programme on UTV for a decade.

In 2008, he was appointed as a Victims’ Commissioner for the Troubles, representing the needs of those injured during 30 years of conflict in the North.

Mr Nesbitt then joined the UUP in 2010 and was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011 as a representative for the constituency of Strangford, south of Belfast.

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A smooth and assured performer in debate, he was elected leader of the UUP in 2012, succeeding the more traditional Tom Elliott.

However, the party was in decline at the time and he struggled to reverse its position.

Westminster election

At the Westminster election in 2015, the UUP returned two MPs, despite Nesbitt’s calls for a unionist pact with the DUP.

By the following year he had joined forces with the nationalist SDLP in opposition to the DUP. He started promising a post-sectarian future for the North.

In last year's Assembly election, he failed to shake the DUP's dominance, as Arlene Foster took over leadership of the larger party.

He resigned as party leader on Friday while some of his embattled party colleagues fought for their political lives in the latest Assembly election.

However, he will remain as an MLA for Strangford.

PA

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