Senior figures in one of the UK’s major political parties are plotting to remove their leader after a row over Brexit.
The debate over which direction to go and replace a leader who is willing to compromise has erupted over Rishi Sunak’s highly controversial Windsor Framework agreement with Ursula von der Leyen over Northern Ireland.
But it is not the Prime Minister who is under threat, instead Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is now facing the prospect of plotters attempting to have him removed and replaced with a hardliner.
After persuading his party’s Executive last night to back a deal to reopen the Stormont Assembly and allow Sir Jeffrey to become Deputy First Minister to Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald as First Minister, the DUP leader has succeeded in causing a rift.
DUP sources have told Express.co.uk that “there is now a real prospect of a leadership challenge in the coming days”.
DUP eight MPs in Westminster are split five to three against Sir Jeffrey’s deal, according to sources.
But the challenge is most likely to come from a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly according to speculation with speculation surrounding Upper Bann member Jonathan Buckley, the DUP’s energy spokesman.
One source said: “Jonathan Buckley only narrowly managed to win the deputy leadership by one or two votes. He is the name to look out for if there is a leadership challenge.”
Mr Buckley was one of those to speak out against Donaldson’s compromise last night.
The threat means that history could come full circle on Sir Jeffrey. In 2003 he quit the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) after David Trimble compromised to enable the Northern Ireland peace deal before joining the hardline anti-peace deal DUP in January 2004.
In the early hours of this morning, Sir Jeffrey said he had been “mandated” by the 130-member executive to go forward with the deal he was proposing.
He insisted that the party’s seven tests have all seen “progress” after the talks with the UK government.
And as the DUP leader faces accusations of a “sellout”, he found an ally who pointed out that he appears to have won at least one significant concession.
Raoul Ruparel, director of the Boston Consulting Group Centre for growth, noted that the “new Joint Committee legal decision expanding ‘not at risk’ category to cover rest of world imports into NI.”
He described this as “a big win” for the DUP and UK Government.
Mr Ruparel noted: “While the EU won’t call it this, to me this reads as a legal change under the existing Windsor Framework. Will change how green lane operates and allows NI to more firmly take advantage of UK free trade agreements.
“Credit to [the UK government] team and DUP for pushing on this sort of thing. Lots said it’s impossible but will again help on margin to get Stormont restored which is crucial for NI.”
