Potentially contentious DUP deputy leader contest to be held after general election

Paul Givan, Jonathan Buckley, Gavin Robinson and Emma Little-Pengelly at DUP headquarters. Photo by Jonathan Porter /Press Eye

Mr Robinson will be formally ratified as leader in a vote on Wednesday night.

The party was already in the routine process of selecting a leader and deputy leader when previous leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigned after being arrested and subsequently charged over historic sex offences – charges he will contest.

The deputy leader position was left vacant when Gavin Robinson was unanimously elevated to leader by the party’s officers – a position to be ratified on Wednesday night by the ruling executive.

A contest for the post of deputy leader has the ability to reopen old divides within the party, which have been rumbling under the surface since the bitterly divisive battle to replace Arlene Foster in 2021.

Figures within the traditionalist wing of the party are of the view that it cannot be someone who was politically close to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson – such as the deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly, who was co-opted into an Assembly seat won by Sir Jeffrey.

Edwin Poots, Paul Givan and Jonathan Buckley are all names who have been mentioned as a deputy leader who could garner support from more traditional elements of the party.

Only MLAs and MPs are entitled to vote for the leader and deputy leader – which leaves anti-deal elements without significant sway in the decision.

Of the most vocal opponents of Mr Donaldson’s deal only Sammy Wilson would have a vote, as Lords Dodds and Morrow are peers.

However, there are others who are unhappy with it, including at least two other MPs and a handful of MLAs.

The Safeguarding the Union deal was backed by what Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said was a “decisive” majority back in January, paving the way for a return to power-sharing at Stormont.