Democratic Unionist Party | |
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Abbreviation | DUP |
Leader | Gavin Robinson |
Chairman | The Lord Morrow |
Lords Leader | The Lord Dodds of Duncairn |
General Secretary | Michelle McIlveen |
Founder | Ian Paisley |
Founded | 30 September 1971 |
Preceded by | Protestant Unionist Party |
Headquarters | 91 Dundela Avenue Belfast BT4 3BU[1] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Right-wing |
Colours | Red White Navy blue Copper (customary) |
House of Commons (NI seats) | 5 / 18 |
House of Lords | 6 / 797 |
NI Assembly | 25 / 90 |
Local government in Northern Ireland[6] | 122 / 462 |
Website | |
mydup | |
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, British nationalist[4][7] and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson, who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing[8][9][10][5] and socially conservative,[11][12] being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.[13][14]
The DUP evolved from the Protestant Unionist Party and has historically strong links to the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, the church Paisley founded. During the Troubles, the DUP opposed sharing power with Irish nationalists or republicans as a means of resolving the conflict, and likewise rejected attempts to involve the Republic of Ireland in Northern Irish affairs. It campaigned against the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In the 1980s, the DUP was involved in setting up the loyalist paramilitary movements Third Force[15][16][17] and Ulster Resistance,[18] the latter of which helped smuggle a large shipment of weapons into Northern Ireland.[19]
For most of the DUP's history, the Ulster Unionist Party was the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland; however, by 2004, the DUP had overtaken the UUP in terms of seats in both the Northern Ireland Assembly and the UK House of Commons. In 2006, the DUP co-signed the St Andrews Agreement and the following year agreed to enter into power-sharing devolved government with Sinn Féin,[20] who agreed to support the Police Service, courts, and rule of law. Paisley became joint First Minister of Northern Ireland. However, the DUP's only Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Jim Allister,[21] and seven DUP councillors[22] left the party in protest, founding the Traditional Unionist Voice.[23]
Ian Paisley was succeeded as DUP leader and First Minister by Peter Robinson (2008–2015), then by Arlene Foster (2015–2021). After Foster was ousted, Edwin Poots briefly became leader and nominated Paul Givan as First Minister, but was himself forced to step down after three weeks. In June 2021, he was succeeded by Jeffrey Donaldson. In protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol, Givan resigned as First Minister in February 2022,[24] collapsing the Northern Ireland Executive. On 30 January 2024, Donaldson announced that the DUP had agreed a deal with the UK government that resulted in power-sharing being restored.[25] Donaldson resigned as leader on 29 March 2024 after being charged with historical sex offences, with the party's deputy leader, Gavin Robinson, being appointed as interim leader and later confirmed as party leader in May 2024.[26][27][28][29]
The Democratic Unionist Party has formally announced its intention to campaign for a Brexit.
No-one wants to see a 'hard' Brexit, what we want to see is a workable plan to leave the European Union, and that's what the national vote was about – therefore we need to get on with that.
The men on the Antrim hillside became the nucleus of a paramilitary formation 'The Third Force' which would play a role in what the DUP called 'The Carson Trail'
Dr Ian Paisley, who had been close to Bradford, called for tax and rent strikes by Loyalists and announced the formation of a new paramilitary body for which he claimed he was helping to recruit. Because it was to supplement the RUC and UDR, he called it the 'Third Force'