After Americans had voted in the war hero, General Eisenhower, to be his successor in the White House in 1952, Harry Truman famously remarked, “Poor Ike. He’ll say do this and do that and nothing at all will happen.”

Truman’s prescient comments were based on his political experience and an awareness that getting things done in politics is not like the army. I’m sure Doug Beattie can attest to the accuracy of that observation now that he has finally thrown in the towel as UUP leader.

The Beattie experiment was often entertaining but at no point could it have been described as a success. The once heralded promise of a Beattie Bounce has long since become a cruel joke depicting Beattie’s rocky reign.

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Doug Beattie always cut a strange type of political leader. Another unionist whose British military background propelled him above his natural political station, the hapless Captain Doug failed abjectly to establish his authority within a party notorious for indiscipline and farce, most glaringly apparent in his public admission that he wanted to lead the UUP into opposition at Stormont........

© The Irish News