ULSTER Unionists elected Sir Reg Empey last night to succeed David Trimble as party leader, in the hope that he will steer them through one of the worst periods in their 100-year history.
Sir Reg, seen as a safe pair of hands in troubled times, was expected to win comfortably but was run close by Alan McFarland.
After the first round of voting Sir Reg was ahead by only 29 votes. He polled 295 votes compared with Mr McFarland’s 266; David McNarry polled 54. In the second round, between the two front runners, Sir Reg won by 321 to 287.
Unionists present at the vote said that Mr McNarry had given a passionate speech while Mr McFarland had impressed delegates with a measured performance to close the gap on the favourite. UUP sources described Sir Reg’s performance as nervy during the meeting as he tried to pitch himself as a leader.
The party is still reeling from its drubbing at the general election, in which it won just a single seat. Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists are now the biggest Ulster party by far at Westminster.
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None of the three candidates was an MP and while Sir Reg was considered the favourite both his rivals are well known to party members. All three are members of the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly.
Sir Reg managed to secure the support of senior figures from the pro-Agreement, centre and sceptical sides of the party. He was a senior negotiator of the Good Friday Agreement, so closely associated with the now much-criticised power-sharing agreement.
Sir Reg, 57, is the Assembly member for East Belfast and was a Belfast councillor for more than 20 years. Recently he has been instrumental in internal negotiations to avoid a party split, and is liked and trusted by Tony Blair. It is expected that he will have talks with the Prime Minister shortly.
Mr McFarland, 55, is a former member of the Royal Tank Regiment, with which he served in Germany and Canada, and he was also a United Nations peacekeeper in Cyprus. He had the backing of Lady Sylvia Hermon, the UUP’s only MP.
Mr McNarry, 56, is a former senior adviser to David Trimble and a senior member of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. He was heavily involved in the rows over the Drumcree march.
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Sir Reg emphasised that his party would not go into government with Sinn Fein in the lifetime of the current suspended Stormont Assembly.
“I made it clear in my literature that this party will not participate in an executive which includes Sinn Fein in the lifetime of this Assembly,” he said.