After Brexit, devolution in Northern Ireland is in a parlous state
The defenestration after just three weeks of a Unionist leader reveals just how parlous
WHEN EDWIN POOTS was chosen as leader of Northern Ireland’s largest political party on May 14th, he described politics as “a rough-and-tumble game”. Defending his role in ousting his predecessor, Arlene Foster, as party leader and Northern Ireland’s first minister—that is, joint leader of its devolved assembly in Stormont—he said: “I would assume that at some stage it may well happen to me.” After he had spent just 21 days in the post, it did.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “A Unionist Pootsch”
Britain June 26th 2021
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