THE FORMER chair of the Northern Ireland Conservatives is to rejoin the party after successfully challenging a decision to exclude him.
Alan Dunlop, who quit the regional Tories in 2021 citing "wholesale negativity, back-biting and personal attacks", said he was "delighted" that his application to rejoin the party had been successful.
The retired millionaire shipping firm boss's bid to rejoin the party in August was rejected, prompting him to characterise the procedure as a "kangaroo court".
However, after taking his case to the Conservatives' UK-wide membership committee, he is to be reinstated.
Sources have indicated that the central office decision will not be universally welcomed within a party riven by internal tensions.
Mr Dunlop, who says he has donated thousands of pounds to the Conservatives, said in a statement that he wasn't "going to pour (sic) over the reasons" his application was "spurned" at regional level.
"There’s no point raking over the past," he said.
"Instead, my focus is on the road ahead and how I can help restore the Conservative brand, build a party structure and, yes, move to a position where we can win seats in councils and in Stormont."
The chair of the NI Conservatives, Matthew Robinson, said the party was "always enthusiastic to welcome new members".
"It is our intention to offer the people of Northern Ireland a truly credible alternative, with team of candidates who will endeavour to speak for the silent majority of the electorate tired of the stale Stormont politics of the past," he said.
