An election for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was held on 8 April 2017 at the party's Annual General Meeting, the 2017 contested election was triggered after incumbent Leader Mike Nesbitt, elected in 2012, announced following the 2017 assembly election his intention to step down as party leader, the 2017 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly was held on which date?
Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2017 An election for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was held on 8 April 2017 at the party's Annual General Meeting. Elections are held each year, with the incumbent usually reelected unopposed. The 2017 contested election was triggered after incumbent Leader Mike Nesbitt, elected in 2012, announced following the 2017 assembly election his intention to step down as party leader. While initially, Robin Swann and Steve Aiken were expected to run against each other (with candidacies by Doug Beattie, Robbie Butler and Roy Beggs, Jr. also considered possible), in the end only Swann ran and was elected unopposed.
Billy Hutchinson Billy "Hutchie" Hutchinson (born 1955) is the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party in Northern Ireland. He was elected to Belfast City Council in the 1997 elections and to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998. He lost his assembly seat in 2003 and his council seat in 2005. Before this he had been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was a founder of their youth wing, the Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV).