DUP LEADER Peter Robinson is planning to ask his deputy Nigel Dodds to take on a special role of re-establishing grassroots unionist support for the party after the disappointing European election result, according to informed DUP sources.
This would involve Mr Dodds standing down as Minister of Finance and ultimately abandoning his Assembly seat in favour of his position as North Belfast MP, the sources said.
One of the favourites to succeed him in such an eventuality is the current Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Industry Arlene Foster.
While Diane Dodds won a DUP seat in Europe her poor vote and the high turnout for her Traditional Unionist Voice opponent Jim Allister has prompted the party to take special measures to try to regain lost ground.
A reshuffle would open up opportunities for several DUP Assembly members. It could allow former DUP culture, arts and leisure minister Edwin Poots to be returned to the Northern Executive and also create ministerial chances for MLAs such as Nelson McCausland and Simon Hamilton.
It could additionally present an opportunity for Ian Paisley jnr to return as a minister although Mr Robinson may decide to keep him out of the Executive so that he could concentrate on seeking to win the North Antrim Westminster seat if, as seems likely, his father, the Rev Ian Paisley, stands down at the next British general election. This will be one of the main tussles in that election as the main DUP rival in North Antrim will be Mr Allister. The election will happen by next summer at the latest.
First Minister Mr Robinson has already stated he is planning a reshuffle of his Northern Executive ministerial team – a move that is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, possibly as early as next week – in order to deal with the issue of “double-jobbing” DUP politicians.
The dual mandate and Westminster expenses were cited as two of a number of issues unionist supporters complained about to DUP canvassers during the European election campaign – issues which Mr Robinson wants to quickly tackle. Last month Mr Robinson said that by the autumn no more than one of his seven Westminster “parliamentary colleagues who presently hold either a ministerial position or committee chairmanship will continue to do so”.
In addition to Mr Robinson, the following four DUP Executive ministers also sit at Westminster: Mr Dodds, Minister for Culture, Arts and Sports Gregory Campbell, Minster for the Environment Sammy Wilson, and junior minister Jeffrey Donaldson. In a reshuffle that addressed the double-jobbing situation, only one of these four could retain a ministerial post.
Mr Robinson himself must also decide whether to hold on to the dual mandate or, as he seems to prefer, to stand down from Westminster and just sit in the Assembly.
The DUP Assembly team met yesterday to begin considering how to move forward after the disappointment of the European election. “We’ve spent so much time governing that we haven’t been paying enough attention to the needs of our grassroots support, and that must be addressed,” said one senior DUP source. “We have to reconnect with our base.”
Mr Dodds is now due to be asked to take on the challenge of restructuring the party, reshaping local DUP organisations and, as Mr Robinson said on Monday, “reconnecting” with the DUP grassroots.
Meanwhile, Diane Dodds yesterday continued to defend her decision not to shake hands with Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre De Brún after the count on Monday despite some public and internal DUP criticism. She did not want to engage in “stunts”, she said.
