Trimble reselected as Upper Bann candidate
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble tonight saw off a challenger and was reselected to fight his Upper Bann constituency at the next general election.
Mr Trimble received backing of 81% of the constituency association at a meeting, defeating constituency treasurer Robert Oliver.
Mr Oliver, a businessman in Portadown, co Armagh, was one of two people who stood against Mr Trimble in a party leadership challenge back in March.
Mr Trimble won the day then also, after months of internal fighting in the party following its poor showing in last year’s Assembly elections which saw it overtaken by Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party as the leading voice of unionism.
That was followed by a number of defections of UUP members to the DUP, the most high profile being that of Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson in January.
A member of the Upper Bann constituency association who was at tonight’s meeting said: “The vote was quite clear. The association is firmly behind Mr Trimble as its candidate for the next general election.”
Both men addressed the meeting and insiders insisted there was no animosity and that the constituency was united.
Mr Oliver was even selected as a candidate for the area to stand in the local council elections next year.
