Arlene Foster: I won’t quit

Two-and-a-half years after leading unionism into an Assembly election where it lost its Stormont majority for the first time since Northern Ireland’s creation, Mrs Foster led the dominant unionist party into a campaign where unionists lost the majority of Westminster seats for the first time.

Half of Northern Ireland’s MPs are now nationalists and they have been joined by Alliance’s Stephen Farry who won in the safe unionist seat of North Down.

DUP chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, likely to succeed Nigel Dodds as its Westminster leader, declined to firmly endorse Mrs Foster.

When asked what the result meant for her leadership, Sir Jeffrey told Radio Ulster: “Well look, I’m not going to speculate on those kind of things. We need to sit down as a party; we need to reflect on these results.”

Asked by UTV if her leadership was in any doubt, Mrs Foster appeared incredulous, asking: “Why would my leadership be in any doubt when we have a job of work to do?”

When asked if she would be considering her future, Mrs Foster, who has been DUP leader for four years, said: “No. Not at all. Absolutely not ... I haven’t heard anyone say that my position is untenable. What I have heard today is from people encouraging me to get into those talks on Monday and encouraging me to make Northern Ireland stable.”

Mrs Foster said that she intended leading the DUP back into talks with Sinn Fein on Monday aimed at a compromise which will see both parties return to Stormont and Mrs Foster return to her role as first minister.

When asked by UTV if she would accept that the result had been a disaster for her and her party, Mrs Foster said: “No, I wouldn’t say it was a disaster ... it isn’t a disaster because it you look at our vote share and the fact that in 2015 we had 25% of the vote with eight seats, this time round we have eight seats and have 31% of the vote ... first past the post is quite a rough tool if you like to gauge how people are thinking.”

With the DUP’s Westminster influence shredded by the clear victory for Boris Johnson, Mrs Foster insisted that she was “not minimising the fact that we have been given a message; we’ve been given a very clear message – and that message is that the people of Northern Ireland want devolution and they want us to be back in the Assembly taking decisions, dealing with the healthcare crisis, dealing with education ... so I’ve heard that message, the party has heard that message, we will be in talks on Monday and I hope that everybody else has heard that message too.”

She said the party was “hugely disappointed” to lose “stalwart” Nigel Dodds and Emma Little-Pengelly.

She called for “an injection of money” from London to help get Stormont back.

Within the DUP there was widespread discussion as to whether Mrs Foster should continue, with several party members telling the News Letter that she was now a problem for the party.

However, others within the party were bullish about the result.

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell, who in common with most of his colleagues was re-elected with a reduced vote, insisted that there was not a crisis for his party.

Speaking of the results, he told Radio Foyle: “I think it’s a mixed bag – I don’t think you can say it’s a bad election result for the DUP. We will bounce back from it; our vote held up very well ... up in North Down.”

Former UUP leader Mike Nesbitt – whose own party had a dreadful night, with its leader Steve Aiken coming third behind the DUP and Alliance in South Antrim – blamed the DUP for having built momentum behind the campaign for an Irish language act by acting in ways which were disrespectful.

He told the Nolan Show: “The problem was Gregory Campbell’s ‘curry my yoghurt’ [jibe], the problem was Arlene Foster’s ‘rogues and renegades’ in the Executive and the crocodile comment. They have created this mess.”

Mr Nesbitt also said that “Brexit may be unionism’s biggest ever own goal and the outcome may be the end of the United Kingdom”.

The TUV leader, Jim Allister, whose party did not contest the election, said it had been a “very disappointing outcome in key seats” which requires “both a retrospective and prospective examination by unionism”.

He added: “In retrospect a question which must be asked is whether, when unionism through the DUP held an unparalleled position of power at Westminster, 2017-19, that power was used to the best advantage. The focus on the financial, rather than the political lacked strategic planning.”

Sinn Fein and the SDLP focused on the return of Stormont. Mary Lou McDonald said that it had been “an historic election and a defining moment in our politics”, and added: “I and our negotiating team stand ready to re-enter talks with the two governments and the other parties on Monday and we will work towards securing agreement on outstanding issues.”

The SDLP’s Colum Eastwood, who had an outstanding night, said that as well as Brexit the election “was also about people sending a very clear message to the DUP and Sinn Fein”.

Alliance MP Stephen Farry warned Boris Johnson that the Union was deeply divided on Brexit.