This result is a new start for me

This result is a new start for me

11 May 2016

THE DUP’s Jim Wells said his election ended what had been a “ghastly year” for him.

The fall out from misconstrued comments he made at a Westminster hustings event in Downpatrick in April last year ahead of the Westminster election resulted in him resigning as health minister at a time when his wife was battling to recover from serious illness.

“This time last year was one of the darkest days of my life when I was going through a wide range of personal and professional tragedies. I went through the most difficult year of my life by far and it gives me the greatest of pleasure to be the first person elected in South Down after all that has happened. This time last year I thought I was ruined and the past 12 months and more have been turbulent,” he continued.

“The DUP vote is almost 2,000 up on my Westminster performance which was dreadful; it was a very bad election for us for all sorts of reasons. Ulster Unionist Harold McKee emerged then as the main unionist, but this time around we have been able to establish very clearly that the DUP is the main unionist party in South Down. Hopefully the tide is now turning for us as a family as it has been utterly grim over the past year and more.

”The election is a new start for me and I am delighted with the result. I knew I was under pressure  and was taking a big personal risk. Had this not gone well I was finished. The party took a risk given all the adverse publicity, but what I can say is that around the doors there was not a single person who failed to vote for me because of the controversy of last April.”

Mr Wells said he has been “vindicated” by the electorate who had given him a “resounding victory,” explaining he stood for election because he was determined “that those who sought to destroy me would not win.”

As the former health minister heads back to Stormont he was asked if it was a job he would like again.

“My time as health minister were the happiest eight months of my life. I had fantastic staff around me and they are wonderful people. In order to be vindicated I would like to be back in this job at some time. It ended in abject misery and I would like to be back, but that is not my decision. It is a matter for the First Minister, but I am more than prepared to do it if it is ever given to me,” he said.

Mr Wells said he will miss John McCallister who failed to retain his seat, but suggested the Independent Unionist adopted two policies which were toxic in south Down — gay marriage and abortion — which he said “went down like a lead balloon.” 

The DUP MLA also sympathised with the SDLP’s Sean Rogers who lost his seat, describing him as an “absolute gentleman whom it was a privilege to work alongside.”