Deirdre Heenan: Twitter’s double-edged sword leaves Beattie’s liberal credentials in tatters

The UUP leader is just the latest politician to find out that contentious social media posts have the potential to derail a career

Doug Beattie, UUP leader: a plethora of tweets from a decade ago resurfaced to cast serious doubt on his image as a liberal, progressive, moderate leader. Picture: PA

Last December, Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Conservative Party leader, described Doug Beattie as “quite probably” the man who will save the union. Earlier this month, an opinion poll by Lucid Talk showed Beattie, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), as the most popular political leader in the North.

But by last week, in a remarkable reversal of fortune, he was fighting to save his political career, his credibility shattered. A plethora of ...