The Democratic Unionist Party was founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley and Desmond Boal. It emerged from a strand of unionism that argued the established Ulster Unionist leadership had been too willing to compromise with reform and Irish nationalism.
Paisley and opposition to constitutional settlements
The DUP developed during the Troubles as a strongly unionist and socially conservative party. It opposed the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement and later the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, arguing that both gave Irish nationalism or the Irish government an unacceptable role in Northern Ireland’s affairs.
The party contested elections at Westminster, local-government and European level and gradually increased its support. Paisley became one of the most recognisable figures in Northern Irish politics.
The Good Friday Agreement and the rise of the DUP
The DUP opposed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in the referendum campaign. In the years after the Agreement, it overtook the Ulster Unionist Party as the largest unionist party.
After negotiations at St Andrews, the DUP entered devolved power-sharing with Sinn Féin in 2007. Paisley became First Minister with Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister.
Brexit and the post-Brexit settlement
The DUP supported Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and later held the balance of power at Westminster after the 2017 general election, entering a confidence-and-supply arrangement with Theresa May’s Conservative government. It strongly opposed arrangements that it believed created regulatory or constitutional barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
The party’s modern history combines electoral competition within unionism with a continuing focus on Northern Ireland’s constitutional position inside the United Kingdom.