The DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds and speculated next leader of the party paid personal tribute to First Minister Peter Robinson at the party's annual conference, portraying him as a man of granite.
The North Belfast MP did not specify during his speech on Saturday whether he will seek the leadership apart from making one oblique reference when referring to how Game of Thrones is filmed in Northern Ireland.
He wondered were there any “analogies” present when he said it was “a programme apparently devoted to how ambitious men or women clamber to the top of the heap”.
Mr Dodds, referring to the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 30 years ago, said the DUP was in the “wilderness” at the time but now was “in the heart of government, with our fate in our own hands”.
“That’s wasn’t an easy thing to achieve, it wasn’t a certain thing. It took guts and brains and determination. And it meant being prepared to stand up to naysayers from whatever side they chanted,” he said.
“When you look at your leader and First Minister, what you see is the embodiment of seriousness. There is grown-up, level-headed, realistic Ulster in all its granite form. He has endured, he has delivered,” he added.
Referring to the Fresh Start agreement struck between the British and Irish governments and the DUP and Sinn Féin on Tuesday, Mr Dodds said his party had “endured a lot of criticism and, let’s be frank, unease, recently about the state of the province”.
“I hear you, but you’ve seen what we’ve done. We have a strategy, we’re sticking to it and it’s working,” he told the delegates.
Mr Dodds said that in the coming months, which is the lead-up to the Assembly elections, DUP supporters would hear “powerless and impotent” criticism and “shouting from the sidelines.
Defending the agreement he said the choice was clear: “Either we keep Northern Ireland working, keep Northern Ireland moving forwards. Or we are swept back into a wasteland of despair and stalemate.
“The DUP will make Northern Ireland work and won’t run away from the fight whenever there are hard challenges to face or easy headlines to chase. We’re better than that, and we’re much, much more serious than that.”
Mr Dodds was critical of British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell for their previously stated support for Sinn Féin and republicanism. "We won't forget their praise for terrorists.We won't let them pretend they didn't think gunmen were honourable," he said. "And we'll go on making sure that everyone across the entire country knows what they're dealing with when it comes to that pair. They were wrong then and unbelievable now.
“We deserve a better opposition than that, and I hope that the Labour Party soon comes to its senses and delivers us one,” said Mr Dodds. “Just like there’ll be no amnesty for terrorists, there’ll be no forgetting of the facts or rewriting of them either.”
Mr Dodds wished Northern Ireland well in the European championships next year and even offered a level of support for the Republic. “I’ll be wishing all the teams present from the British Isles well . . . though not quite as well as us,” he said.
Mr Dodds used the concluding part of his speech to praise Mr Robinson. “He has stood strong in the gale of what the last 40 years has thrown at us all. I have seen at close quarters and come to admire more than I can say the sheer talent he has brought to making things work, however impossible the odds have sometimes seemed,” he said.
He fights every inch of the way, and always in the best interests of Northern Ireland. We were fortunate to have him as leader. He has done us proud,” added Mr Dodds.
