Ben Lowry: The ​DUP seems to have edged even closer to a Stormont return

​It does now seem to be closer than it has been in the almost two years since the DUP withdrew from the executive.

I say that for two reasons.

First, Edwin Poots is central to the arithmetic. He is one of 12 party officers who decide DUP policy. It is hard, but not impossible, to get a majority of them on board without Mr Poots. He has not said that he is backing a return, but his record is one of agreeing to all major moves by the party. Pundits confuse the fact that Mr Poots is a religious fundamentalist with his wider politics, in which he is one of the DUP politicians most prone to supporting concessions to nationalism. And now his tone sounds receptive to a deal.

Second, the decision of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to call a meeting of his party’s larger executive on Monday appears to reflect the growing confidence that he radiates about the prospects of return – something indeed, about which he is increasingly explicit in admitting is his own clear preference.

The meeting on Monday, indeed, might even be a bold bid to bypass party officers. The executive can’t decide policy, but support there might put pressure on the officers.

Significant internal DUP opposition is certain to remain.