Today Edwin Poots formally assumes the leadership of the DUP.
In so doing he defenestrates not just Arlene Foster but also the conventional wisdom that the one who wields the dagger never wears the crown.
What he will do with his razor-thin mandate from his party’s electoral college will have a bearing, for good or ill, on all of us.
That is because of our interdependence, which in as divided and burdened a society as ours, should be a wholesome and enriching thing assisting the creation of trust and common ground.
One must wish Mrs Foster well. She did not fulfil her early promise and whether things would have worked out better had she graciously stepped aside at Martin McGuinness’s request, must remain one of the ifs of history. A pity that the most statesmanlike comments of her first ministership came in her statement of resignation.
As for Mr Poots, he has his work cut out.
He takes over a deeply scarred party with polls showing support on the slide and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, his defeated rival, more popular by far with party supporters and in the country.
Still, there must be hope in Mr Poots’ frank answer to the BBC’s Stephen Nolan, who asked him directly how will God influence him in the job.
He replied: “I hope the greatest influence He will give me is wisdom because I need an awful lot of it and sometimes I haven’t had enough of it.”
Such humility in a politician is welcome as is his willingness to talk openly and calmly about “my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Whether that broadens his party’s appeal is another matter, but we have come to a sorry pass if a political leader of faith cannot speak openly about the values that drive them - in Mr Poots’ case Gospel values – without being pilloried.
It was also refreshing to hear his affirmation of the preciousness of human life, about his conviction that “both lives matter” in the context of abortion and his flagging up of the spectre of euthanasia, calls for which are likely to increase in the years and decades ahead amid ever pressing health and social care budgets post-pandemic.
However, the most immediate challenge for Edwin Poots is the Brexit-induced protocol stemming directly from the Tories’ prosecution of the hardest of exits from the EU, willingly and recklessly supported by the DUP while they held the balance of power at Westminster.
Foolishly, Mr Poots has boxed himself and his party into a corner by demanding the scrapping of the protocol - part of an internationally binding treaty between Britain and 27 EU states enshrined in UK law – rather than pushing for maximum mitigation and the elimination of its barmier provisions, using the bi-lateral machinery established between the UK and the European Commission to iron out problems.
It is true that Lord Frost, Britain’s EU point man has irresponsibly raised unionist and loyalist expectations in recent weeks. But can they trust him, and do they really think that Boris Johnson, however unprincipled he may be, will mid-pandemic, tear up the treaty, trigger a trade war with Europe and precipitate a falling out with President Biden, whose support he needs for a trade deal with the US?
Unionists have a right to feel betrayed by London but Mrs Foster’s initial pragmatic response to the protocol, emphasising the opportunities flowing from membership of both the UK internal market and the European single market for goods was the correct one and ultimately that judgment is likely to be vindicated.
Mr Poots has said that he will not endanger power sharing and devolution.
And that must mean the DUP fully cooperating with the North-South Council because all the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement “are interlocking and interdependent.”
With a full North-South Council meeting planned for next month we should know soon whether Mr Poots is as good as his word.
