Trimble secures UUP leadership

Mr Trimble said he was "delighted" by the council's support

David Trimble has been re-elected as Ulster Unionist leader with an increase in support from his party.

Mr Trimble secured 59.8% of the votes from the Ulster Unionist Council at a meeting in Belfast on Saturday.

His two challengers, Coleraine management consultant David Hoey won 21.6%, while Portadown businessman Robert Oliver polled 17.6% of the votes.

Mr Trimble said he was "delighted" the council had backed him.

"I look forward to the party becoming settled as a result of today's meeting," he said.

Mr Hoey conceded defeat and said he would no longer "actively oppose" Mr Trimble.

Ulster Unionist peer Lord Maginnis urged party members to unite and called on members to "get back on side and abide by the decision".

However, there was some dissension among the 750 or so delegates who attended the meeting.

John Cairns of the Masserene branch said he would be considering his position within the party.

Mr Hoey said he would no longer actively oppose Mr Trimble

"We need a cosmetic change, we are not going to be able to sell Trimble, he's dead in the water," he said

The Ulster Unionist council also passed new rules, which Mr Trimble said would "centralise and transform the party from a loose coalition of associations to a modern political force".

The Upper Bann MP has been party leader for nine years and has defeated many challenges to his policy in the past.

However, this is only the second time he has faced a direct leadership contest.

He last faced a bid to oust him four years ago, when the South Belfast MP, Reverend Martin Smyth, took 43% of the vote.

However, it has been a turbulent period for the UUP.

The party was overtaken as the main unionist grouping in last November's assembly election by the Democratic Unionist Party.

Anti-Agreement Jeffrey Donaldson's defection to the DUP, brought the party's Stormont contingent to 33, nine more than the UUP.

Ahead of Saturday's meeting, South Antrim MP David Burnside, whose call for a change of leadership prompted Mr Hoey to challenge Mr Trimble, warned some members of the party could opt out of the UUP altogether.

"This party will not be united and unionism certainly will not be united under David Trimble's leadership," Mr Burnside said.

Meanwhile, Mr Smyth has lost the party presidency to Lord Rogan.

Mr Smyth secured 329 votes to Lord Rogan's 407.

The veteran Ulster Unionist MP has been a constant critic of Mr Trimble and was one of three MPs who faced disciplinary action last summer for resigning the whip at Westminster in a row over policy.