Robin Swann's career is travelling in a different direction to that of Phil Hogan, Dara Calleary and Barry Cowen. In November 2019, after two uneventful years when he failed to take the Ulster Unionist party from its role as bit player in Northern Ireland politics, Robin threw in the towel as leader.
He was 48 at the time. Steve Aiken replaced him: in fact Mr Aiken was the only candidate for the 'push the bus up the mountain' position.
Robin returned to the back benches. But in January of this year, Robin got the first of two calls he wasn’t expecting. Thanks to a combination of public pressure and the formula drawn up by the then Northern Ireland Secretary, Julian Smith and Foreign Affairs Minister, Simon Coveney, a power-sharing