Arlene Foster: I know people don’t have this perception of me but I love a good laugh with my friends and I can’t wait to do that again

But behind the polished, public facade, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, like the rest of us, is grappling with the constraints of lockdown. She worries about her two eldest children missing out on their university education as learning remains online; misses meals out with her husband Brian; calling in to see her elderly mother to discuss detective series over tea; and seeks refuge in her Christian faith as she attempts to lead the province through the Covid crisis.


“We all miss the things we’re so used to doing every day, don’t we?” says Arlene as she chats to the News Letter on the way back to her native Fermanagh after another day of work.


“I think lockdown has brought everyone back to basics, to what is really important in their lives. What I miss is being able to visit each other in each other’s homes. In the country, it’s what we do. I’ve been trying to keep away from my mum in person which is very difficult because we are a tight family and her home is the centre of it all.


“My father passed away in 2011, she lives on her own, and we are all used to coming and going to see her. She’s 87 and I am very conscious of trying to protect her and not bringing anything into her home. She doesn’t do Facetime, so it’s just all been on the phone and then anytime that I have gone up to where she is in Lisnaskea it’s just saying hello through the window and no hugging. It’s hard.”


As with most of us, family connections have been her primary sustenance during what she describes as the most challenging time of her career. Meals together at the dinner table, meandering walks through the surrounding daffodil-strewn Fermanagh countryside, it could be idyllic were the rigours of political life not so burdensome in the midst of a pandemic.


“The legacy of Covid will always be first of all remembering the people who have lost their lives, but during the first and second lockdowns I was really struck by the community spirit that there was regardless of where you where, people out doing fabulous work trying to check on those who were isolated,” she reflects.

“Community groups have made a real difference both in our cities and in the countryside, not just delivering food but ensuring that people on their own get to see another face, however briefly. I do hope that sort of community spirit will maintain even when Covid 19 has become a thing of the past.


“Covid has been the biggest challenge of my political career to date. You are taking decisions that affect business and people’s freedoms and day-to-day lives. These are difficult choices necessary to save lives and it is a delicate balancing act.”


But away from Stormont, what is keeping her going? “I am fortunate that I have family in lockdown {husband Brian and children Sarah, George and Ben) because I think for people who live alone it must be very tough. I rely on family so much and the fact that I live in this beautiful part of the world where I can get out and walk. My two eldest children, both at university, have been at home and that’s a huge challenge for them because they haven’t been able to enjoy student life in the way that they should. But for their father and I, we have liked having them here and just being a family of five. It has afforded us quality time together, a positive in the midst of what is such a difficult time.”


She confides that while not a Netflix or boxset fan, she reads a lot in the evenings and has still been able to find time for virtual fun as she and her group of girlfriends all celebrated turning 50 this year with Zoom parties.
Asked if like the rest of us she has started to regard the weekly trip to Asda or Tesco as a highlight of lockdown socialising, I realise she’s probably too well-known to go unnoticed in the supermarket aisles.


“I do click and collect, and with everybody at home the food bills are high. My husband and I share the cooking but we all love a takeaway. There is a lovely Italian near us, Franco’s in Enniskillen, a Chinese in Clogher and then our local chip shop which we are immensely fond of. In terms of fame, I do notice people looking twice at me when I am walking down the street in Belfast, but back here in Fermanagh I am just Arlene and that is the way I like it.”


In public life, Arlene can be perceived as austere, but behind all this is somebody who loves to have a laugh and relishes her role as a mother of three.
“I know people don’t have this perception of me, but I love a good laugh and socialising with my friends when I can and I look forward to doing all that again. I miss my girlfriends - I have the same group I met at university, four of us who used to live together. We go for coffee, we go shopping, we like to get away together for a nice overnight spa break.


“I am terribly proud of being First Minister and it was amazing that my mother was there to see me sworn in in 2016. But I also have three incredible children who make me proud every day and it’s lovely to see some of your traits in them - some good, some bad!

“Being a mother is great privilege and the huge love you get back is tremendous.”

‘The comfort of faith in these tough times’

A devout member of the Church of Ireland, Arlene worries about the increasing secularisation of society and misses her weekly trip to church under lockdown.
“Just being able to take the time to pray and ask for wisdom is so important to me, and giving thanks when things go well. It has been a sacrifice for a lot of us that we have not been able to have that coming together in church with other believers.
“I have always been somebody who attends church regularly because I find it very comforting.

“There is a real challenge to being a Christian in today’s society. And I feel concerned for the younger generation around all of that. Aggressive secularism is predominant.


“With faith in God, you are never alone, and I believe you are only ever given the challenge that you are fit to deal with.
“I am who I am today because of so many people who influenced me along the way, and because of the strength I draw daily from my Christian faith.”

‘A man in public life is strident, but a woman is thought shrill’

When she was nine, the IRA shot and severely injured her RUC reservist father on the family farm, forcing them to leave the countryside for the Castlebalfour Estate in Lisnaskea.

Foster made her way into politics while studying at Queen’s where she completed a law degree and joined the Young Unionists. It was, in part, a move inspired by her admiration for Margaret Thatcher,

“She came into office in 1979. It was the year my father was shot, there was a lot going on. You looked at her, a female prime minister, and it was a huge gain in terms of breaking through the glass ceiling of what is possible for women in political and public life.

“There is very little of what Hillary Clinton says that I agree with, but she was right when she said ‘you cannot be what you cannot see’. For me, for example, looking at somebody like Thatcher, that gave me the sense of ‘Why shouldn’t I get involved in politics? Why shouldn’t I put myself forward?’

“When I started out, the highest compliment people would give me was that I was as good as any man, as though that was the only conceivable yardstick with which to measure success.”

Foster had the grit to enter the fray and her much documented career, her now historic move from the UUP to the DUP, her portfolio of ministerial positions and her current role are testament to her mettle as a shrewd political player. She has certainly weathered controversies - most notably RHI - and continued with resolve to rival the Iron Lady.

It may be 2021, and a very long time since women’s liberation and the first rumblings of the feminist movement, but Arlene still laments the fact that women are judged so differently to men; particularly odious is this insistent emphasis on image that social media has made all pervasive. She has been subject to cruel comments about her looks on Twitter and is adamant that there are a different set of rules when it comes to how women are perceived in public life.

“I think undoubtedly women are judged in a way that men aren’t. We are judged on our appearance. I have received unkind comments about how I look, I have received death threats, and the anonymity of social media means people are not held accountable. There is no recourse to stop women being abused.

“Also, when a man in public life says something that is quite strident he will be judged as being strong, whereas when a woman does the same she is dismissed as shrill. This is still a very present issue. We need to see as many female role models at all levels of society.”

It is a measure of Arlene’s tenacious, defiant spirit that she carries on undaunted.

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