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DUP leader Edwin Poots in Dublin this week. PA

Edwin Poots defends strategy following criticism from Peter Robinson over Foster's exit from DUP

Poots said: “What was good for Peter doesn’t seem to be good for anybody else.”

NEW DUP LEADER Edwin Poots has defended his strategy after former NI First Minister Peter Robinson described Arlene Foster’s exit from the party as a “deliberate publicly humiliating and acrimonious ditching”.

Robinson, who served as First Minister of NI from 2008-2016, criticised the way in which Foster’s exit from the party occurred, contrasting her leave to that of Ian Paisley in 2008. 

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme, Poots said Robinson is “out of the loop and therefore doesn’t know exactly what was going on or what happened”.

“What was good for Peter doesn’t seem to be good for anybody else,” Poots said.  

Writing in Northern Ireland newspaper the News Letter, Robinson questioned the strategy of those advising Poots.

He described Foster’s exit from the party as a “deliberate publicly humiliating and acrimonious ditching”. 

“More and more it is being said that for some in Edwin’s camp it is all about revenge as they could have achieved the same outcome without spilling blood,” Robinson wrote.

“The savage slaying of a leader in the public eye was totally unnecessary and vindictive,” he added.

Foster announced her resignation as party leader and Northern Ireland First Minister following an internal revolt within the DUP.

Poots was narrowly elected to be her successor over Jeffrey Donaldson in the first contested leadership vote in the party’s 50-year history.

Foster said she would step aside as First Minister on Tuesday this week if Poots named his new frontbench team.

This did not occur and Poots denied delaying making his ministerial appointments in response to an internal rift within the party, saying he will unveil the lineup when he is “ready”. 

He indicated it would be announced in a “number of days”. 

Poots was in Dublin this week to meet with Taoiseach Micheál Martin. The DUP leader described the meeting as “positive, fank and useful” despite warning that relations between NI and the Republic had “never been as bad”. 

“I don’t blame the current Taoiseach for that, I blame the last Taoiseach,” Poots told reporters ahead of the meeting. 

He added however that he would “lead the DUP team” at the next north-south ministerial meeting. 

I believe that there are important issues that we need to discuss and deal with. On the basis that there is going to be a serious attempt to assist in dealing with the protocol I believe that we should be seeking to help normalise relationships once again.

The Taoiseach said the two party leaders had “an open exchange of views across a number of issues” including political developments, Covid-19, north-south cooperation and the NI Protocol. 

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    Mute Seán Ó Briain
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:19 PM

    You know things are bad when we look back on Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster as the more level-headed DUP leaders compared to Poots.

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    Mute JG
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:22 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain: inbreeding has predictable outcomes

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    Mute DJBERMO
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:26 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain: agreed, on a positive note the DUP appear to be imploding.

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    Mute John kane
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:29 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain: just sit back and watch them fall apart under this fella

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    Mute a
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:50 PM

    In the past the DUP was the anti Catholic bigot party which was attractive to many older generation unionist voters. The marchers were happy with them.

    The new generation of unionists have other modern concerns. LGBT rights, abortion, Brexit, the ability to consider yourself European. They are not as hardline. To be fair to Arlene Foster I think she got it to a certain extent but was never going to change the party’s way of thinking.

    The DUP are a sinking ship and Poots is now the captain. They are beyond saving. Many will jump before it’s too late in the coming months.

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    Mute Shelly Levine
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:28 PM

    So Poots strategy is …. NO.

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    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:33 PM

    @Shelly Levine: or blame everyone else

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    Mute Joe Johnson
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    Jun 4th 2021, 7:06 PM

    @Shelly Levine: Much prefer Edwin Poots than wee Jeffrey wouldn’t trust him. At lest with Poots you know what your getting.

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    Mute Alan Biddulph
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    Jun 4th 2021, 7:50 PM

    @Joe Johnson: Yes you are getting a dinosaur disguised as a ventriloquist dummy.

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:35 PM

    Poots is in a major hurry, after all he as to squeeze time into a very small frame, millions of years of life on earth become 6 thousand in his mind.

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    Mute John Fagan
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    Jun 4th 2021, 8:47 PM

    He is aware that the last Taoiseach will be the next Taoiseach next year. Isn’t he?

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    Mute Kiern Mcx
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    Jun 4th 2021, 9:43 PM

    @John Fagan: Don’t be giving him ideas!!

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    Mute ed w
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    Jun 4th 2021, 10:40 PM

    @John Fagan: I doubt it

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    Mute Michael Powell
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    Jun 5th 2021, 10:04 PM

    @John Fagan: With the housing crisis and the mother and child issues it could be SF

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    Mute Michael Powell
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    Jun 5th 2021, 10:07 PM

    @John Fagan: With the housing crisis and the Mother and Child issues it could very easily be SF next time around

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    Mute Michael Healy
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    Jun 4th 2021, 6:52 PM

    I’m beginning to miss Arlene already, with this turd blossom now running the show, where his answers to everything are either its the EU fault or Noooooo….

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    Mute Thomas Harrington
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    Jun 4th 2021, 7:52 PM

    They’ll go the same way as Terreblanche and his Nazis in South Africa

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    Mute Steam Roller
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    Jun 4th 2021, 7:18 PM

    More bluster and thinly veiled threats of a return to violence. Maybe he was picked for his good lucks and charm.

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    Mute Steam Roller
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    Jun 4th 2021, 7:19 PM

    @Steam Roller: *good looks

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    Mute Shane
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    Jun 5th 2021, 4:51 AM

    The DUP are simply returning to their Paisleyite roots…and in so doing possibly returning to the margins of NI politics…
    Mind you, that’s not to say they won’t continue to cause immense harm…

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    Mute Paul Clavin
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    Jun 5th 2021, 2:51 AM

    I like nuns

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    Mute Dave
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    Jun 5th 2021, 11:10 AM

    @Paul Clavin: my cat’s breath smells like cat food

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    Mute Jimmy Jones
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    Jun 5th 2021, 2:22 PM

    Pootsy believes the earth is 4k years old while in fact it’s about 4 billion.
    Apart from that he’s fine.
    Keep up the good work Edwin

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    Mute Garret Cronus
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    Jun 4th 2021, 8:29 PM

    Who else goes straight to the comments whenever you see the words DUP or Poots?

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