SO ARLENE Foster plans to tear up her DUP membership card in the coming weeks amid claims that the party is not the one she joined? Unfortunately, she has not elaborated extensively on her remark about the party's direction, which initially came from "sources close to" the first minister, so it's therefore open to much interpretation.
What is undoubtedly striking, however, is her decision to cut ties with the DUP after 18 years and what was for the most part a successful political career, albeit one punctuated by controversy and an inglorious conclusion. Party leaders come and go, and many are ousted unceremoniously, but few are so dismayed that they feel it necessary to immediately terminate their membership. Theresa May was knifed front, back and centre by colleagues but remains on the Tory benches at Westminster – her continued presence reinforcing the folly or her hasty demise.
Mrs Foster's actions demonstrate two things in particular – she is clearly deeply hurt by the manner in which a coup against her was launched this week, but more significantly, the Fermanagh-South Tyrone MLA feels so completely disillusioned by her own party's ideology that she can no longer stand over it. That's a quite an indictment from an insider who's been pushed out.
The DUP leader has faced lots of criticism over the past five years and much of it was of her own making. Yet in many ways, she was far more pragmatic and conciliatory than she is given credit for. Her tone has been aggressive and tetchy at times and her approach often uncompromising but the insight we have been given this week into the mentality of many of her MLAs suggests she faced many internal struggles. Regrettably though it was her failure to deal with public dissent that was one of her main failings, indicating that her power was largely confined to Stormont, and even there it had limits.
She must also feel embittered at having to bear responsibility for the Irish Sea border, the imposition of which came about largely due to the stubbornness of the DUP's Westminster team. Again, Mrs Foster initially sought to be pragmatic about the protocol, only to be undermined by those in her party that will freely criticise but fail to offer solutions beyond pressing the nuclear button.
As the potential shape of the post-Foster DUP begins to emerge, concern is growing by the day, including among unionists, that it will make the party of the past five years, as well as that led by Peter Robinson, look positively progressive in comparison. It's a backward direction that may appeal to those who agitated most strongly for Mrs Foster's removal but it's likely to make the party less appealing to an electorate that does not share the DUP's world view, beyond its loyalty to the union.
As for the departing DUP leader's claim that the party she leaves behind is not the one she joined, we can only assume she sees the irony in this take, which is basically an admission of her inability to lead a sizeable reactionary element into the 21st century. In this regard, it's hard to sympathise with Mrs Foster, as the DUP has never made a secret of its fundamentalist and conservative credentials, and to say now that she is somehow surprised by the level of resistance to change suggests naivety. Or perhaps it also offers an insight into how much Peter Robinson's influence enabled the DUP to remain on an even keel, highlighting how once the former East Belfast MP departed, the fundamentalist wing felt free to flex its muscles once again.
What is worth noting is that her partial pragmatism and limited outreach gestures notwithstanding, Mrs Foster is among the most conservative and right-leaning leaders of any party in these islands, so when she voices concern about the DUP regressing, it really does make you wonder what on earth is going on?
