Mike Nesbitt will lead a new transatlantic campaign to offer a better brand of unionism.
The former news anchorman and his fellow former party leader, Sir Reg Empey, have been assigned to lead annual trips to the United States and Europe, where they will advocate for unionism.
Mr Nesbitt told The Irish News that the action was intended to boost unionism in places where nationalism has been prominent for many years.
He referred to an episode in 1994 in which then-UUP leader James Molyneaux and his DUP counterpart Ian Paisley skipped a business convention in New York because Gerry Adams was there.
They "walked off the pitch," according to the Strangford MLA, who added that unionists were “very poor when walking into a room full of people who don’t agree with us”.
Mr Nesbitt expressed hope that the trips to the United States would take place on an annual basis "around Thanksgiving," while UUP leader Doug Beattie would also attend the White House's St. Patrick's Day events.
He stated that the party would use military, religious, cultural, and political connections.
“In my experience when you engage with people in debates, you don’t necessarily get converts but you’ll get people thinking more deeper and differently about what they want and unionism’s place in what they envisage as the future,” he said.
The former UUP leader stated that the tone of the speech will be softer.
“It’s important people understand that the DUP is not unionism,” he remarked.
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