DUP members ratify Edwin Poots as party leader

The Democratic Unionist Party has ratified Edwin Poots and Paula Bradley as its leader and deputy leader.

The party endorsed an earlier vote by MLAs and MPs, but it came amid anger from some quarters about how Arlene Foster was ousted as leader last month.

Mr Poots paid tribute to Mrs Foster as "one of the foremost women in unionist and British politics".

Ahead of the meeting, Mrs Foster said her departure was "even by DUP standards, pretty brutal".

Lagan Valley MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson - who ran against Mr Poots for the leadership - Lord Dodds, Economy Minister Diane Dodds and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson did not wait to hear Mr Poots' speech - they left the building.

A very well-known figure in the DUP told BBC News NI it was the "worst meeting he had attended in over 40 years as a DUP member".

After the ratification, Paul Bell, the former chairman of the Fermanagh and South Tyrone association of the DUP, resigned from the party.

BBC News NI political reporter Jayne McCormack said she is hearing that others may follow in resigning, including some councillors.

Mrs Foster, who attended the meeting, remains as first minister until the end of June.

She has already changed her Twitter handle from @DUPLeader to @ArleneFosterUK, taking all 96,000 followers with her.

Mr Poots was ratified via a show of hands, by 72-28.

In his speech to members, Mr Poots said history will "ultimately be kind" to Mrs Foster and he wished her well.

He said the party had a contest and the party will now "move forward in a united way".

The new DUP leader said preparations for the next election to the Northern Ireland Assembly - due in May 2022 - have now begun. He announced that he will be appointing a director of elections "quickly."

He said all strands of the party needed to come together.

"Let us agree to go forward in a spirit of unity of purpose," he said.

"What lies ahead of us will be the greatest Titanic struggle of an election."

Ms Bradley said there were "better times to come" for the party.

Mr Poots also paid tribute to leadership rival Sir Jeffrey, saying he had a "key role" in the party.

North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said "leadership transfer hurts".

"If anyone in this party can talk about difficulty, it's me. I saw what happened to my dad, it killed my father," he told BBC's The View.

Mr Paisley's late father, Ian, the party founder, had accused his successor, Peter Robinson, and Nigel Dodds of giving him an ultimatum to leave his post.

East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson said after the meeting that "any political party will at times have its divisions".

"A change of leadership always does provoke some very strong views amongst party members," he said.

"I am sorry that some people have decided that they don't want to remain in the party as a result of the change of leadership. I hope that Edwin will reach out to those people and try and convince them that under his leadership there's a place for them in the party."

Mr Poots is remaining as agriculture minister and has opted not to take on the role of first minister.

It is the first time in the party's 50-year history that a leadership contest has taken place.

The decision on who will take on the role of first minister has yet to be decided.

BBC News NI understands North Antrim MLA Mervyn Storey has reservations about becoming first minster, having been tipped for the role.

Mr Storey is understood to have concerns about the joint nature of the office and feels he could not be "true to himself" in that role.

This was not how tonight was supposed to go for Edwin Poots.

Party members - senior ranking and junior - gathered to rubber stamp his new position but what followed were hours of tough, emotional talking about how bruising the past few weeks have been.

I think the fact there was a vote on whether or not to have a secret ballot and it was so close - rejected by 56 votes to 47 - shows how much unease there still is within the DUP.

Some party colleagues including Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Lord Dodds walked out before the new leader addressed members and set out his priorities.

That unease is not only about how Edwin Poots was elected to his new role, but also the fact that Arlene Foster clearly had a lot of difficulty in the last few weeks - a bruising few weeks for her as she now leaves the job.

Sir Jeffrey still has a lot of support within the party and Mr Poots is going to have to try to reach out to build support from all of those who don't view him as the leader to take the party forward.

The next assembly election is going to be the thing on the minds of most MLAs and unionist voters.

Earlier, The Irish News reported the party veteran Mervyn Storey, who has previously served as finance minister and social development minister, rejected the role and said he did not want to become "Edwin's mudguard".

Others who have been tipped for the job include Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan, who is a close ally of Mr Poots.

There has been tension in some quarters at the treatment of Mrs Foster.

In a statement, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone association of the DUP said the removal of Mrs Foster was "not done in our name" and it would support her if she remained as an MLA.

It said its members "met this week to voice their disgust at the manner" in which Mrs Foster had "been treated over recent weeks".

"We appreciate that Arlene has sacrificed so much personally over the years for public service but this association will stand firm by her side," it said.

After Mr Poots was ratified, Paul Bell, former chairman of the association and member for 20 years, resigned from the party.

He said it will shed tens of thousands of votes under Edwin Poots and he was "disgusted" by the treatment of Mrs Foster.

Mr Bell told the BBC's The View programme on Thursday night that Mrs Foster had been "stabbed in the back".

"If the DUP cannot have respect for their own people, I don't know how they're going to have respect for people who don't agree with them," he said.

Mrs Foster told the BBC's Newscast podcast on Thursday that the heave against her and the manner in which it was carried out was "not particularly pleasant".

"I think that I said a couple of days after what had happened that politics is brutal, but even by DUP standards it was pretty brutal, in terms of what happened," she said.

"I had absolutely no idea and was telephoned by a close colleague that this was happening on Monday evening and then by Tuesday morning, it was all in the papers. So, no, it wasn't particularly pleasant."

Meanwhile, North Belfast MLA Paula Bradley was elected as the party's new deputy leader after Lord Dodds announced he would not bid for re-election.

She beat MP Gregory Campbell by 18 votes to 16 and is the first woman elected to the post.