FORMER first minister leader Arlene Foster is destined for the House of Lords where she'll sit as an unaffiliated peer, according to reports.
She would be the second former DUP leader to be granted a peerage, following in the footsteps of the late Ian Paisley, latterly Lord Bannside.
The list of potential appointees leaked to the Daily Telegraph, also earmarks businessman and Co-Operation Ireland chairman Christopher Moran, as a DUP life peer.
The property tycoon and Tory donor, whose website notes he's the son of "an Irish father and British mother", lives in the lavish Crosby Moran Hall, formerly Crosby Place, in west London.
He was name-checked at the DUP's 2018 conference by guest speaker Boris Johnson, who thanked Mr Moran for "everything he has done for Northern Ireland, and for helping me to secure this invitation".
Mrs Foster, who was ousted as DUP leader following internal rebellion last year, was made a dame in June in the late Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee birthday honours list.
She is currently a presenter on GB News and is involved with UK Together, a new group promoting the benefits of the union.
The leaked list is thought to cover periodic peerages rather than Boris Johnson's resignation appointments, which will see a further tranche of nominations to the House of Lords.
Among the other names listed are former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, ex-Labour deputy leader Tom Watson and Tory MP Hugo Swire.
South Belfast MLA Matthew O'Toole, whose former party colleague Margaret Ritchie resigned from the SDLP before taking up her peerage, described the House of Lords as "an indefensible institution in the 21st century".
"While Arlene Foster is entitled to recognition for her service as a former first minister, there is an uncomfortable irony that a former DUP leader appears to be taking a seat in an unelected legislature while her former colleagues are preventing an actual elected legislature in Northern Ireland from meeting and helping people during an appalling cost of living emergency," he said.
