AS FORMER senior PSNI officer Jon Burrows prepares to take over the leadership of the UUP uncontested, he will be fully aware of the huge challenges that face him. Or at least we think he will be, because Mr Burrows is so fond of an arresting soundbite and accompanying picture that it is sometimes hard to tell what lies beneath the bluster and blow.
The problems that face him as head of a diminished and diminishing UUP have been well rehearsed during the leadership campaign (if the now familiar routine of unknown men in suits crowning their choice can be called a campaign). The party is haemorrhaging support. It faces an existential electoral crisis. It is increasingly struggling to attract women and young people. It continues to be beaten like a piñata by the DUP with nary a sign of spirit or fight.
But what of the challenges facing Mr Burrows when it comes to the non-unionist community; the undecideds; the disillusioned; the confused? The non-stop focus on intra-unionist fighting is as tedious as it is familiar, but sooner or later a UUP leader is not only going to have to acknowledge that the union cannot exist supported by unionists alone, but he (it’s always a he) is going to have to do something about it.
Mr Burrows’ early days as an unelected MLA do not augur well for those willing and waiting to be convinced that this really is a union of equals, a place for everyone, or whatever other exhausted and undelivered promise is delivered to them. He has spoken of his wish to practise serious politics and of his belief that elected representatives should forget international politics and concentrate on local issues. And yet his serious politics has most notably thus far consisted of getting passionate and emotional about a dog in a prison and about ornamental fish in a pond. A prison pond.
And he is about to take the reins of a party whose elected representatives – particularly the big dogs who held the big job before him – are not shy about voicing their opinions on world affairs. Does he propose to shut them up? Good luck with that if he does.
Mr Burrows may be keen on convincing non-unionists that their best interests are served by remaining a part of the UK, but that can only be achieved by convincing them that the bad old days of unionist domination and control are over. Or more accurately these days, that the bad old days of unionists craving the return of unionist domination and control are over. That can only be done by putting away, or at least dialling down, the raucous politics of Union First.
Will he be able to do that with the DUP and TUV hovering at his shoulder, panting in anticipation of any sign of weakness or Lundy-style betrayal? The answer is yes, if he is determined enough. The staunch cohort within unionism may be an influential and vocal one, but it is shrinking. What is growing is the unionist cohort that is disaffected with union jack politics and to whom the union means nothing if it is not modern. Address them and he will be addressing non-unionists too.
