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Dear reader
May was one of those dramatic months in politics that many journalists and editors relish.
Arlene Foster’s dramatic toppling as DUP leader took place at the end of April, but the fallout and the sense of drama continued throughout the month of May.
First, we had a leadership election between Edwin Poots and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, two representatives from the Lagan Valley constituency who shared the same constituency office for the best part of two decades but who were suddenly going head to head in a tense contest.
Mr Poots, the agriculture minister, won that election by the closest of margins, beating the long-serving MP by just two votes but by not even mentioning his beaten rival in his post-election speech, the leader designate was hinting at divisions in the DUP that were suddenly in the public spotlight like never before.
By the end of the month, that sense of division was laid bare. It was expected that a meeting of the party executive to ratify Mr Poots’s election as DUP leader would be a matter of course, but instead there was a high-profile resignation on the night itself in a south Belfast hotel, while Mr Donaldson and Mrs Foster were among those who left the meeting early before the new leader addressed the meeting.
Even after the meeting, feelings ran high, as Mr Poots’s close colleague and backer, Ian Paisley Jnr, said he understood Mrs Foster’s pain at losing the leadership in light of his own father’s ousting as DUP leader. Mr Paisley even claimed that his father’s removal as leader played a key role in his death.
The month closed with Mr Poots facing many questions, as outlined in this analysis piece written by our political editor Sam McBride.
The Ulster Unionist leadership process, which started after Steven Aiken’s resignation, was infinitely more straightforward with Doug Beattie, the Upper Bann MLA and holder of the Military Cross, emerging unchallenged.
Mr Beattie’s assured media performances will make him a formidable opponent for the DUP. One of my favourite pieces of the month was this Saturday interview with the former soldier, as he recalled his time in the dangerous Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
In what was also an eventful month for Arlene Foster, she won an important victory in the courts as the celebrity chef Christian Jessen was ordered to pay her £125,000 for a false social media post. She has promised to devote time after politics to highlight and combat social media trolls who have targeted women in particular.
Alistair Bushe
Editor, News Letter | |
