UUP LEADER UNDER PRESSURE OVER HISTORIC OFFENSIVE TWEETS

It has not been a great few days for the Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie, who has revealed he will let his party decide whether or not he should resign.

It comes as Mr Beattie has come under fire from many within Stormont after he was accused of misogyny and racism over the revelation of a number of historic tweets.

In a statement released yesterday, the Upper Bann MLA said that he is “deeply ashamed and embarrassed”, by the content of previous tweets.

Speaking to the BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show this morning he stated that “"I will speak to my MLA group today and I will speak to my party officers, if either group feels I should step down then I will.”

The posts, that date back prior to his membership in the UUP, feature derogatory language against women and feminists, derogatory comments about Muslims, a strong racist slur and an offensive term for the Traveller community.

Mr Beattie claims some were sent when he was “still in a male-dominted environment, still in the military”.

Continuing he said that he isn’t hiding away from his mistakes adding “"what I will not accept is that anybody tries to paint me as a racist, because I am simply not and I will stand up for everybody."

Many executive colleagues have reacted to the latest developments with SDLP Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon saying the tweets were “deeply deeply offensive” with Alliance Party leader and Justice minister Naomi Long saying she was “genuinely shocked at just how casually misogynistic” the tweets were.

All in all Mr Beattie now has a lot of questions to answer and a lot of sorrys to say but whether he will be in post by the end of the week is something that we just aren’t sure about yet.