THE leader of the DUP is facing a vote of no confidence from senior members as the Northern Irish party appears to be in internal disarray.
Edwin Poots, who succeeded Arlene Foster last month as leader of the DUP, is facing questions about his leadership after a majority of its elected members opposed his decision to nominate a Stormont First Minister.
Poots had nominated Paul Givan for the role but a sizeable majority of MLAs and MPs voted against the decision to reconstitute the powersharing Executive with Sinn Fein in a bruising internal meeting just minutes before the process began downstairs in the chamber.
One senior party source at the meeting, which happened in the members’ dining room, described the atmosphere as "utterly dreadful", according to the PA news agency.
After leaving the meeting, Mr Poots nominated Mr Givan as First Minister while Sinn Fein renominated Michelle O’Neill as deputy First Minister at a specially convened Assembly sitting.
Earlier on, several DUP MPs and peers sent an urgent email to Poots urging him to hold off nominating Givan until he explained his decision to reassemble the Executive after Sinn Fein secured its key ask on Irish language laws.
A post-midnight announcement by the UK Government committing to pass the stalled laws at Westminster in the autumn, if they are not moved at the Stormont Assembly in the interim, was enough to convince Sinn Fein to drop its threat not to nominate a deputy First Minister as joint head of the devolved Executive.
The development came after a night of intensive talks involving Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis and DUP and Sinn Fein delegations in Belfast.
READ MORE: DUP leader accused of acting in ‘bad faith’ over Irish language
DUP MP Sammy Wilson (above) said that any leader who does not have the support of party officers will “find it very difficult” to stay in their position.
Wilson made the comments as he arrived for a meeting of party officers at the DUP headquarters in Belfast.
Asked if Poots would survive a vote of no confidence, Wilson said: “It wouldn’t be a final decision, it would be a decision by the executive.
“I think that any leader who doesn’t have the confidence of party officers and didn’t have the confidence of their Assembly group and their MPs will find it very difficult to stay in their position.
“You cannot lead people who are not following you. If you have no followers, you can’t be a leader, can you?”
Asked if Givan would remain as First Minister of Northern Ireland if Poots loses the confidence of his party, Wilson added: “Again, that’s the issue. If Edwin is no longer leader, then whoever did become leader would have the choice of the First Minister.
“These are all decisions we have got to make.
“The one thing I can tell you is that there is no appetite for a situation where we have an Assembly which can have its powers stripped from it by the Secretary of State at a whim simply because Sinn Fein demand that they get something that they can’t persuade others in the Assembly to deliver for them.
“That is no basis to have devolution.
“They wouldn’t do it in Scotland, it wouldn’t be tolerated in Wales and it shouldn’t be tolerated by anybody, not just the DUP, any self-respecting party in Northern Ireland.”
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