Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A sunnier UUP could prove tougher to Beat
arty Political Broadcast. Three simple words guaranteed to have TV viewers reaching for their remotes. But the Ulster Unionist Party has manged to grab some attention with its latest attempt released on Thursday.
More than 7,500 hits on Youtube might sound paltry, but that number is already more than its previous three combined.
And the video itself is honestly not awful.
Gone are the standard clips of politicians, usually men of course, wearing drab suits and making stilted statements down the lens of amateur camerawork.
Instead they are replaced with footage of everyday people going about their daily lives.
People from different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities.
A young girl with a hurl and sliotar. A farmer surveying his fields. A same-sex couple on a sofa. A goth.
The vibrant, positive scenes are a million miles away from the angry, uncompromising way some unionist figures can come across in the media.
“Ulster Says No” is replaced with “Ulster Says Yeoo”.
The footage from dawn til dusk skips along to an original track that gives song to the UUP’S new slogan, “A Union Of People” - a favourite phrase of new party leader Doug Beattie.
“We are strong when we dream, we do more things better as a team,” the lyrics croon.
“Young and old, let’s be bold, you and me.”
It is extremely cheesy - but also positive, catchy and uplifting. It could easily be the UK’S next entry for Eurovision and that’s not a criticism.
The Beattie bounce has become the Beattie bop.
It sets the tone for the UUP’S party conference this weekend, its first since the pandemic and Mr Beattie’s first as leader of the Ulster Unionists.
The party is attempting to create a clear distinction between its brand of unionism and that of rivals DUP and TUV.
Many members attending the event at a Belfast hotel will
The Beattie Bounce has become the Beattie Bop
be in an upbeat mood, as opinion polls suggest the party may have turned a corner after years of decline.
In an interview with the Mirror ahead of the conference, Mr Beattie set out his vision.
“We are confident unionists. We are projecting positivity. We are projecting inclusiveness,” he said.
“We are welcoming and we are looking for things that are important to all of the people here in Northern Ireland.”
Mr Beattie however has a fine line to tread to differentiate
himself from unionist opponents to broaden the UUP’S appeal without alienating core voters and longstanding party members.
His trickiest high-wire act will be Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol.
Recently joining other unionist parties in a joint declaration against the protocol and sharing a stage at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference could risk his message being swamped by the rhetoric of others.
This unionist unity could help the DUP reverse its slump in the polls.
Fearing a three-way split in the unionist vote at the next election, it would benefit from drawing rivals closer to its position – neutralising the competition it faces at the ballot box.
Just four months into the job as UUP leader, the mood music for Mr Beattie does look promising.
But it will only be when unionists go to the polls that we will ultimately discover whether he has been singing the right tune.