Northern Ireland Veteran Joins Contest to Succeed Foster at DUP

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson entered the race to succeed Arlene Foster as Democratic Unionist Party leader in Northern Ireland, setting up a contest for the job for the first time

The province’s agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, last week put himself forward to lead the DUP, after a party revolt toppled Foster.

Poots is widely seen as the favorite to replace Foster who will step down as DUP leader in the coming weeks and resign as Northern Ireland’s first minister at the end of June. Poots has been a staunch critic of the Brexit deal which helped spur Foster’s resignation, and would likely rally the party against it, maybe even to the point of withdrawing co-operation with British, European and Irish officials where possible.

Donaldson could take a somewhat more moderate approach if he wins.

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