At the beginning of a new year, it is common for pundits and analysts to speculate about the political challenges that will inevitably arise in the months ahead.

No political party faces a greater challenge, and indeed a more existential one, than the Ulster Unionist Party.

January is the month when the current leader, Mike Nesbitt, said he would decide his future.

Will he stay or will he go? That is the question that has dogged the party since Nesbitt made those comments to the Give My Head podcast back in the summer of 2025.

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Since then, two contenders have emerged as potential replacements: deputy leader Robbie Butler, and newcomer Jon Burrows.

Both have different power bases in the party and offer two very different futures.

Butler is popular within the parliamentary party.

First elected to the Assembly in 2016, he has stepped back from taking the leadership previously, but now seems more open to assuming the top spot if Nesbitt........

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