There are two stories behind the resignation of UUP health minister Mike Nesbitt: the decades-old one about Stormont parties backing health reforms in principle and then objecting to them on the ground; plus the new story about UUP leader Jon Burrows bulldozing his way through a party he was co-opted into just 12 months ago.

Moving emergency general surgery from the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine to Antrim is a reform the Northern Trust has been planning for years to prevent surgical services collapsing across its area.

Mr Burrows would have known this when he addressed a public meeting against the move in Coleraine.

He would have known this put him on a collision course with Mr Nesbitt, who had to sign it off.

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He should have known that Mr Nesbitt, due to retire in May, might be inclined to resign if humiliated.

Mr Burrows had his entire 12-month political career to consider how he would deal with this conundrum, as there have been protests in Coleraine against the move since at least 2024.

His solution was to ignore his minister and grandstand at the meeting.

If Mr Burrows did think this through – and he is no fool – he made a cynical calculation about bulldozing Mr Nesbitt out of his way.

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Mr Nesbitt was acquiring a reputation among health professionals for being willing to take unpopular decisions.

While that was admirable, it presumably helped that he had no need to get re-elected.

Mr Nesbitt was less outspoken in 2023 when the South Eastern Trust was closing minor injuries units in Bangor and Newtownards and opening an urgent care centre at the Ulster Hospital, next door to his Strangford constituency.

The UUP’s position was that the centre should open and the units........

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