Arlene Foster questions existence of letter at centre of DUP coup

The letter reportedly signalled no confidence in Mrs Foster’s leadership and was said to have been signed by a majority of the party’s senior elected representatives.

It led to Mrs Foster announcing her intention to resign as DUP leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Lagan Valley MLA Edwin Poots went on to win the first leadership contest in the party’s history by a narrow margin over MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

Mr Poots’ election is to be ratified by the party’s ruling council on Thursday, the day before Mrs Foster is to step down as DUP leader.

She will remain in post as First Minister until the end of June.

She told reporters during a visit to the Strand Arts Centre in east Belfast on Monday that she had not seen the no confidence letter, describing it as “so-called”.

Mrs Foster also said she had not had the opportunity to speak to Mr Poots yet, adding she did not feel under pressure to step down as First Minister earlier than planned.

“I’m not under any pressure. I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with Edwin yet but I’m sure, when I do, we’ll discuss all of those matters,” she said.

“He hasn’t been speaking to me as yet and actually I still have yet to see the letter, so-called, and I’m beginning to wonder is there a letter at all, but in any event I look forward to seeing the letter and I look forward to having that conversation whenever Edwin reaches out.

Mrs Foster said the letter “was supposed to be signed by 22 of my colleagues”.

“Some of my colleagues are indicating they were told they were number 22, even though a number of them had been told that, so I would quite like to see the letter just from my own point of view to see what’s in it, and to see what was told to my colleagues,” she said.

“It’s now been nearly four weeks since I heard about it and I still haven’t seen it.”

Frontbench DUP MLA and Stormont Economy Minister Diane Dodds earlier said she hoped the party could heal itself following the leadership election.

Mr Poots has said he plans to hold one-on-one meetings with MLAs and will later announce his ministerial team – including who will be first minister, having ruled himself out, saying he would prefer to concentrate on leading the DUP.

Asked whether she had had her meeting with Mr Poots, Mrs Dodds said she had spoken to him.

“I obviously have spoken to Edwin, that is critical for the way forward for the party,” she told media as she visited the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast.

“I hope that the party can heal itself and to move forward, because the most important thing that the party can do from now on is to ensure that we attract the greatest and widest proportion of those people who are pro-union voters, those people who are concerned about the economy and who know that we have the policies, and the drive and the energy to make Northern Ireland a great place to live, to work and to do business.”

Earlier, Mrs Dodds told the BBC there was a “huge job of work to do” for Mr Poots.

Asked whether she felt he was the person to do the job, she responded: “The party takes a democratic decision and therefore that is the decision, and that is the position that we have arrived at.

“I have made it very clear that the way forward for the party, and indeed the way forward for unionism in general, is to be as inclusive as it can possibly be to ensure that we are attracting pro-union voters to the cause of the DUP but generally to the cause of the union, and we will do that by being inclusive and being open-minded on the values and the importance of the union to Northern Ireland.”

Asked whether she thought she would still be Stormont Economy Minister next Thursday, Mrs Dodds said: “I am not going to allow any of that to spoil my breakfast this morning in such a wonderful setting as the Grand Central Hotel, as for now, I am continuing to do my job as the Economy Minister.”