The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a right-wing[8][9][10] unionist political party and the largest party in Northern Ireland. It was founded by the Protestant fundamentalist leader Ian Paisley in 1971, at the height of the Troubles. Paisley led the party for the next 38 years. Now led by Arlene Foster, it is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Following the 2017 general election, they have been described by the Wall Street Journal as "play[ing] kingmaker" as they agreed to support a Conservative minority government on a case-by-case basis on matters of mutual concern.[11] This pact was described by the Daily Mirror as a "coalition of crackpots", whilst The Sun described it as an "odd coupling".[12]

The DUP is socially conservative: it is anti-abortion, opposes same-sex marriage, and formerly campaigned against the legalisation of homosexual acts in Northern Ireland. Some party members have been noted as climate change deniers and creationists.[13] The party sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism.[14][15] It is also Eurosceptic and backs the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The party has been delineated as populist[5]. It has been described by The Independent as "a party backed by terrorists"[16] and by The New York Times as "a hard-line reactionary party."[17] IrishCentral has described the DUP as "extremist."[18]

The DUP evolved from the Protestant Unionist Party and has historically strong links to the Protestant Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, the church Paisley founded. For most of its history, the DUP was the smaller of the two large unionist parties, the larger being the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The DUP has also traditionally been seen as the more hardline or loyalist of the two. During the Troubles, the DUP opposed attempts to resolve the conflict that would involve sharing power with Irish nationalists/republicans, and rejected attempts to involve the Republic of Ireland in Northern Ireland affairs. It campaigned against the Sunningdale Agreement of 1974, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. In the 1980s, the party was involved in attempts to create a paramilitary movement, which culminated in Ulster Resistance.

cptrelentless wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2017 3:57 pm Once everyone realises that they are swivel-eyed loons we'll be back to the polls again

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