THIS was arguably the DUP’s most important conference for more than a decade. Falling at a crucial juncture in the Brexit process, it also appeared to mark the beginning of a rehabilitation process that sees the party, and its leader in particular, attempt to rescue a once-unchallenged reputation for competency in government.
Nigel Dodds was right to tell the conference that the DUP is currently at the "epicentre" of British politics. The confidence and supply agreement with the Tories has given the party unprecedented and disproportionate power at Westminster but Theresa May’s determination to run with the Brexit withdrawal agreement has put great strain on the 18-month-old deal.
The fortunes of the DUP and the British prime minister over the coming weeks are inextricably linked. A victory for one will most likely represent defeat for the other.
The decision to invite A-list Brexiteer Boris Johnson to address the conference at peak time served two key purposes. It was clearly designed to remind Mrs May that the DUP won’t hesitate in supporting a rival Tory leader if she continues on her current course. The former foreign secretary’s speech also served as a morale booster and distraction from the uncomfortable predicament the DUP finds itself in.
The party has painted itself into a corner on Brexit, its dogmatic approach putting it at odds with the business community and farmers, who don’t share the DUP’s deep concern about the potential for regulatory checks on goods moving between the north and Britain. The revelations around RHI mean those who once looked to Arlene Foster and her party for guidance and support are now more sceptical of their motives and analysis.
Like the former foreign secretary, the DUP is lavish in its criticism of what is being agreed between the EU and the UK but lacks any alternative bar crashing out.
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- Brexiteer Boris Johnson calls for backstop to be 'junked'
- Arlene Foster says sorry for party's role in botched RHI scheme
Mr Johnson was given a predictably warm reception on Saturday but failed to deliver a speech that matched expectation. He meandered, dithered, and contrived jocular scenarios involving Star Wars light sabres to illustrate how Britain and Northern Ireland might prosper together once free of the EU. The member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip then further cemented his reputation for eccentricity by throwing his weight behind the DUP’s ‘bridge to Scotland’ plan.
The leader’s conference address lacked the hubris of the past two years – Arlene was less ‘on fire’ or basking in an electoral surge, and more on a mission to restore the party’s confidence in her.
She was contrite on the DUP’s behalf for the RHI debacle but still not fully accepting personal responsibility. In the first of what are likely to many pre-empts of next year’s RHI inquiry report, Mrs Foster acknowledged that every component in the Stormont process had been tarnished by the scheme she oversaw as minister and therefore needed reviewed.
She hinted at new though not groundbreaking measures that could help break the deadlock in restoring devolution and dusted down the old ‘let’s build a small U unionist consensus’ game plan that always seems to vanish soon afterwards in an angry cloud of red, white and blue smoke.
It would naive to think that the DUP will be punished severely by its support base for its recent failings, including Ian Paisley’s misdemeanours, but the past few months may well be remembered as those that marked a turning point in the fortunes of Northern Ireland’s largest political party.
