Andrew McQuillan

Edwin Poots’s resignation could cause a crisis in Northern Ireland

Edwin Poots (Photo: Getty)

The end of Edwin Poots’s 21-day spell as leader of the DUP sums up the ordeal of being a unionist leader. Elected as a hard-line replacement for Arlene Foster, he has departed now after being seen to have given too much away to Sinn Fein over the Irish language.

Who will replace him? The early candidate appears to be Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the party’s Westminster leader who was defeated by Poots in last month’s contest. His supporters are championing him as a stabilising influence in a party which has ripped itself apart, with others suggesting that he should be elected without a contest.

Poots’s election was a last roll of the dice for his wing of the party, the fundamentalists who didn’t really get over the departure of Ian Paisley in 2008. Yet even the good reverend doctor was able to appeal to all branches of the DUP and unionism more broadly. Poots lacked the bandwidth to achieve that. Now the ramifications of his departure are more existential than whether the DUP can be put back together again.

Poots’ election was a last roll of the dice for his wing of the party

Donaldson previously said he would not want to be both party leader and first minister. If he replaces Poots this poses a problem, as the incumbent – Poots’s former constituency assistant Paul Givan – is unlikely to be his natural choice. If Givan resigns – or is made to resign from that role – then we will have to go through another round of Stormont horse trading.

Poots was ousted over his acceptance of a backroom deal between Sinn Fein and the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis over an Irish Language Act, to get Givan nominated as first minister. His successor is likely to take a different tack.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in