FORMER First Minister Arlene Foster has revealed her decision not to block a motion calling for a ban on gay conversion therapy led to her leaving her position.
The Aghadrumsee woman, who is now a baroness in the House of Lords, quit as DUP leader, and thus First Minister in 2021, after members of the party signed a no-confidence motion calling for her to step down.
Now, in an interview with the BBC, Ms Foster explained how her departure came following a vote in the Assembly on introducing a ban on gay conversion therapy.
Ms Foster, pictured right, did not vote for the ban, she simply abstained from voting altogether, while the majority of her fellow DUP members voted against the motion.
Speaking on Radio 4, she said, “I was aware that one of our members had a daughter who was gay – in an attempt to try and diffuse the situation, I said: ‘Well, we’ll just abstain.’
“It was a non-binding vote. But by saying just abstain, people got very angry about that and that was the trigger then for my removal, which came just a week later.”
In the conversation with Conservative politician Michael Gove, she added the party was also unhappy with how things had been handled at previous Brexit talks, with Covid regulations also proving a sore point for some members.
Ms Foster added that due to pandemic restrictions at the time, meaning a lot of work was being carried out remotely, she was caught somewhat off guard by the party revolt against her.
“I didn’t see a lot of it coming towards me,” she said. “Certainly not of the magnitude that happened and the way in which it happened, because nobody had actually come to me and said: ‘Oh, by the way, I think you should step down and it’s time for you to go’.
“Nobody came to me and said that, but the way they did it was that they obtained signatures on a letter of no confidence and that’s how it came about.”
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