OUSTED DUP MP Nigel Dodds is a "shoo-in" for the House of Lords, according to one of his oldest friends and political allies.
Former Stormont health minister Jim Wells said he expected the DUP deputy leader to be given a peerage in the New Year's Honours list or in the dissolution honours list which follows an election.
However, the South Down MLA, who had the DUP whip withdrawn last year after criticising the party's senior backroom staff, said Mr Dodds would be "best utilised closer to home" in a restored Stormont executive.
Since his defeat to Sinn Féin's John Finucane in last week's general election, there has been growing speculation that the former North Belfast MP will be given a seat in the House of Lords.
The DUP has declined the comment on speculation about the peerage for Mr Dodds, which is in the gift of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Wells, who was largely responsible for bringing the DUP deputy leader into the party in the early 1980s, said "My money's on the Lords".
"Nigel would make an absolutely great member of the House of Lords or an MLA, but given his long association with Westminster, I imagine it would be the former," he said.
"Like him or loath him, he represented the DUP's case on Brexit well and with great authority."
The South Down MLA said despite his belief that Mr Dodds would prefer the House of Lords to the Stormont assembly, he thought his old friend's talents would be best applied in a restored executive.
"This is a man with a double first from Cambridge – he's very capable so he'd be an obvious choice for a seat on the executive," Mr Wells said.
