Politics

First Minister: Wounded Arlene Foster cannot afford another misstep

First Minister Arlene Foster
First Minister Arlene Foster First Minister Arlene Foster

DUP leader Arlene Foster resumed the post of First Minister on what should have been the fourth anniversary of stepping into the role.

Instead she did not even make a full year, with then deputy first minister Martin McGuinness collapsing the executive with his dramatic resignation just two days before that landmark could be reached.

Her last tenure saw the semi-cordial relations forged between the DUP and Sinn Féin by predecessors Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson break down entirely amid recriminations over the RHI scandal and other issues.

Mrs Foster's incendiary reference to feeding "crocodiles" in relation to demands for an Irish Language Act was also a diplomatic misstep she can ill-afford to repeat.

The intervening three years have not been without challenges, with the party's vote eroding in elections and its inner workings laid bare during the public RHI hearings.

During this term she will need to weather the publication of the resulting report and find a way to forge an effective working relationship with her new government partner Michelle O'Neill.