Arlene Foster faces challenge to her leadership of DUP

Northern Ireland first minister Arlene Foster is facing a revolt against her leadership of the Democratic Unionist party amid problems in the region with Brexit and calls for a border poll.

Two people close to the DUP told the Financial Times they had knowledge of a letter signed by its representatives in Stormont and Westminster calling for the first party leadership contest in its 40-year history.

One senior DUP figure said it was “inevitable” that an annual vote to confirm the leader would be held “in the next two to three weeks”. The vote is usually a formality held at the party’s annual conference in September.

“The letter calls for there to be a contest, which is ambiguous enough,” the insider said, arguing that the result of any vote might ultimately depend on who stands against Foster. Potential contenders include MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and Northern Ireland agriculture minister Edwin Poots.

The second person with knowledge of the letter, a DUP councillor, said there was “very clearly a challenge to leadership” which could lead to an open vote for an alternative to Foster or could be resolved by consensus if “Arlene agrees to concede and goes quietly”.

The councillor said unhappiness with Foster’s leadership had been building over the DUP’s failure to improve Northern Ireland’s standing after Brexit. Unionists are viscerally opposed to a customs border that has been created between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The DUP initially agreed to the agreement, known as the Northern Ireland protocol, but has since ineffectually called for it to be abandoned and is now mounting a legal challenge.

“A move to oust Arlene Foster is likely to add to the uncertainty and create fears among the DUP’s opponents that the party is intent on digging deeper trenches in its self-declared war against the NI protocol,” said Diarmaid Ferriter, a professor of history at University College Dublin, adding that Foster and the DUP “have been running out of political road for quite some time due to their very poor handling of Brexit and wrong-headed and blithe dismissal of the implications of Brexit for Northern Ireland”.

The reverberations from Brexit and the potential moves towards an independent Scotland have also intensified calls for a border poll on whether Northern Ireland’s future is with the UK or the Irish Republic, an issue that cuts to the very heart of unionism.

“There’s clearly a move by some people to try and oust Arlene,” said another DUP councillor who had not seen the letter. “The coming days will provide clarity.”

The DUP moved to quell speculation, saying issues related to its “internal democratic electoral process” are “in the first instances . . . matters for members of the party”. “We are not able to make any further comment at this time,” the DUP added in a statement on Tuesday evening.

Earlier on Tuesday, Foster told the Belfast Telegraph that she had “bigger things to worry about” than a threat to her leadership.

Fifty-year-old Foster became the first woman to lead the DUP when she succeeded Peter Robinson in December 2015. She survived a no-confidence vote the following year in the wake of the “cash for ash” scandal, a renewable energy incentive scheme that went awry and could cost Northern Ireland as much as £490m.

The power-sharing assembly at Stormont was suspended for three years in the fallout from that scandal, and Foster has led it since its return in January 2020.

“I will support Arlene all the way,” said Alison Bennington, a DUP councillor in Glengormley. “I don’t believe there will be a leadership challenge, but we will have to wait and see. The party is dealing with it.”

Bennington said her support for Foster stemmed from “her leadership” across all issues. Another DUP councillor said he had “no gripe with our leader”.