They’ve already got £1 billion out of the PM, and have her over a barrel in the Brexit talks. Here’s the lowdown on the Terrible 10..
Rt Hon Nigel Dodds, North Belfast, party leader at Westminster, spokesman on reform and constitutional issues and foreign affairs
Born in Derry, Dodds, 61, moved as a boy to Enniskillen, where he was educated at Portora Royal – one of the leading grammar schools in Northern Ireland. Alumni include the writers Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde. He studied law at Cambridge University and worked as a barrister. During the Republican hunger strikes in 1981, he joined the DUP and soon got a job working in the Brussels office for then party leader Ian Paisley, an MEP. Dodds was elected to Westminster in 2001 and has served as a minister at Stormont. He has been the party’s Westminster leader since 2010. Along with party leader Arlene Foster and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, he was an architect of the “confidence and supply deal” made with Theresa May’s government after the 2017 election.
Rt Hon Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, Lagan Valley, parliamentary chief whip, spokesman on defence and business in the Commons
Born in South Down, Donaldson, 56, joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Orange Order as a young man. He worked for the MP Enoch Powell between 1983 and 1985. Two of Donaldson’s cousins were killed by the IRA while serving with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He has said Sam Donaldson’s death in 1970 was one of his earliest memories of the Troubles. Sam’s brother Alex was killed in 1985.
The longest-serving DUP MP, Donaldson was first elected to Westminster for the UUP in 1997.
A year later he was a member of the UUP’s negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement. However, he walked out in protest, opposed to the UUP’s participation in it.
His resigned the UUP whip at Westminster in 2003 and later joined the DUP – which opposed the GFA. He is a former Stormont minister.
Sammy Wilson, East Antrim, spokesman on education, Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions
Belfast-born, Wilson, 65, is a former economics teacher. His appointment as environment minister at Stormont in 2008 provoked anger as Wilson has dismissed manmade climate change. He was first elected to Westminster in 2005. Wilson hit the headlines again in 2016 when he was caught by TV cameras agreeing with a member of the public who said he wanted to leave the EU and “get the ethnics out”. Wilson stated “You are absolutely right”. Wilson claimed he was agreeing with the desire to leave the European Union, not the “ethnics out” call.
Ian Paisley Junior, North Antrim, spokesman on culture, media and sport, as well as communities, local government and climate change
The son of DUP founder the Rev Ian Paisley, Belfast-born Paisley, 52, was first elected to Westminster in 2010 and has served as a minister at Stormont. MPs voted to suspend him from the Commons for 30 sitting days, beginning on September 4 last year, because he broke paid advocacy rules by receiving hospitality from the Sri Lankan government without declaring this to the Commons. Following his suspension, the Recall of MPs Act 2015 was invoked for the first time.
This triggered an abortive recall petition, the first such petition in British parliamentary history.
His membership of the DUP was suspended between July 24 and September 18, 2018, during internal investigations by the party into his conduct. During his career he has made homophobic remarks. In 2005, after hearing that former first minister David Trimble’s aide Steven King had married his partner in Canada, Paisley was quoted as saying: “It is really astounding that David Trimble should have had a man such as this giving him advice – and must surely cast grave doubts on his own political judgement. I think these sorts of relationships are immoral, offensive and obnoxious.”
In 2011, he said of his previous comments: “I think I have grown up since then. I have strong Christian beliefs and moral viewpoints, but you have to realise that while sin is black and white, life is a lot of grey.”
Gavin Robinson, East Belfast, spokesman on justice, home affairs and human rights
Belfast-born Robinson, 34, is a barrister by profession. Elected Lord Mayor of Belfast at 27, he succeeded Sinn Fein’s Niall O Donnghaile in the post. Robinson paid tribute to the work of his predecessor, saying O Donnghaile had “overall a very good year” and had made a significant contribution, “particularly in issues around children and young people, and suicide”. He was elected to the Commons in 2015.
Emma Little-Pengelly, South Belfast, spokeswoman on victims’ issues
The 39-year-old os the daughter of Noel Little, a founder of the group Ulster Resistance who was arrested in 1989 in connection with a plot to exchange a stolen missile stolen for South African guns. The weapons sought were destined for the UVF, UDA and Ulster Resistance. After spending two years on remand, he and two others received suspended sentences and fines. County Armagh-born Little-Pengelly, has said she has “clearly condemned all paramilitary violence”. She was first elected to Westminster in 2017, having previously served as a junior minster at Stormont. She is a qualified barrister. Earlier this month, she called on the UK Government to impose direct rule on Northern Ireland, which she said while “not desirable was necessary”.
David Simpson, Upper Bann, spokesman on business innovation and skills and environment, food and rural affairs
A former Northern Ireland Assembly member and businessman Simpson, 60, was first elected to Westminster in 2005 when he unseated former UUP leader Trimble. In January, he resigned from the board of Universal Meat Company following publicity surrounding his affair with a party colleague. In June last year, he stood down from the Orange Order when details of his relationship with DUP councillor Louise Templeton emerged. Simpson had been in the Orange Order for more than 30 years. He has called pro-choice supporters “anti-democratic, anti-libertarian and anti-human rights”.
Gregory Campbell, East Londonderry, spokesman on international development and the Cabinet Office
Born in Derry, Campbell, 66, is a former minister at Stormont . He was first elected to Westminster in 2001. In 1985 he appeared in a BBC documentary which was temporarily blocked in August 1985 by the government. It filmed Campbell’s life along with that of his late political rival Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein. In the same year he gave an interview condemning homosexuality.
Paul Girvan, South Antrim
Elected to Westminster in 2017, Girvan, 55, is a former MLA. He is also a former private secretary to the first minister and deputy first minister.
Girvan told an academic writing a book about the DUP: “Some people say religion and politics should never really mix. I am a total disbeliever in that aspect because I believe politics came about through religion.
“If you use the Ten Commandments, you can formulate almost every law that you need.”
Jim Shannon, Strangford, spokesman for health, transport and equality
First elected to Westminster in 2005, the 63-year-old is a member of the Orange Order and a former councillor and MLA.
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