‘No surrender’

In the more than two decades since peace broke out in Northern Ireland, there has been a marked improvement in the British-ruled corner of the island of Ireland.

The political and sectarian conflict that had claimed more than 3,600 lives since the early 1970s has ended, and both nationalist and loyalist politicians are working in building a better future for all as a result of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. That deal established a power-sharing executive between the largest parties in the province and allowed for political representatives from both sides of the divided province to jointly rule on an agreed agenda, with the government in London, assisted by the Dublin government in the Republic of Ireland, acting as guarantors — the honest brokers, if you will.

To show how divided the politics in the province is, just 1,200 votes separated 1.8 million in the March assembly elections between those who voted for unionist or ‘loyalist’ parties — those in favour of retaining Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and its other constituent parts of England, Scotland and Wales — and those who supported nationalist or ‘republican’ parties, wanting the province to be united with the Republic of Ireland in the south. That split occurred in 1921, with Britain retaining control over the north, and the south becoming an independent entity after 800 years of colonial rule.

To this day, despite the gains made from the two decades-old peace process, there is still a deep mistrust between loyalists and republicans. You know which side of any town you’re in by the red, white and blue, or green, white and orange colours; the nature of the painted murals; the flags flown; the newspapers read, the beverages available; the music played; family first and surnames; the sports played; football teams supported; the languages learnt; the schools attended; the history written ... The list is endless, the end is listless.

Arlene Foster is the First Minister for Northern Ireland and is leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The party was founded by the late Reverend Ian Paisley, a firebrand politician whose mix of popularism and Free Methodist Presbyterianism was encapsulated in the loyalist catchphrase of “No surrender”.

As the First Minister, she is supposed to share power with the Deputy First Minister who, in this instance, is Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill. O’Neill has replaced the late Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister.

McGuinness was a veteran Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander who played a critical role in convincing his comrades in arms to muzzle their weapons and embark on a path of peace through the political process. Prior to the Good Friday Agreement, the Provisionals and Sinn Fein have adopted a dual philosophy of a weapon in one hand and a ballot box in the other.

Seriously ill at the time, his last political act was to pull Sinn Fein out of power-sharing government in January. He withdrew over Foster’s refusal to step aside and allow an independent investigation into a failed renewable energy scheme that had ballooned to £400 million (Dh1.87 billion). There were murmuring then that Foster had to go, and the knives were being sharpened in the DUP as a result.

Even though these events are barely three months old, that’s an eternity in politics.

Now, Foster is the queenmaker, her parties holds the crucial 10 seats in Westminster needed to keep British Prime Minister Theresa May in power as a result of the June 8 dressing down handed to the Conservative leader by British voters.

And her price for keeping May in her job? More spending on social services in Northern Ireland, making sure that the Brexit talks ensure that the border between the north and south of Ireland remains open and without security or customs checks, and that any talk of a vote to reunite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland is well-and-truly nixed.

In the province, Foster is well-known as the leader of the most small-‘c’ conservative party, one that opposes abortion, more liberal Sunday shopping hours, wants a return of the death penalty, has climate-change deniers in its ranks and has members who are “creationists” — fundamental Christians who believe in a literal interpretation of the Old Testament of the Bible and that man walked the Earth at the same time as dinosaurs only 6,000 years ago.

The party’s views have many British Conservatives feeling very awkward that their government now relies on such MPs to rule, and it could be placed in a very difficult position were the other opposition parties to combine on a socially progressive issue that would put the May government in an embarrassing position to rely on DUP support.

Foster herself lists former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth as her role models and has proved to be a political survivor. It’s a trait that runs in her family.

When she was eight years’ old, she hid in her bedroom of the family’s small Fermanagh farmhouse, when IRA gunmen tried to kill her father, John Kelly, a Royal Ulster Constabulary policeman and part-time farmer. He was home earlier than previously expected and, as a result, the gunmen fired from further away. He managed to escape most of the incoming rounds, but had a glancing wound to the head from a bullet. That was in 1979 and he survived for another 32 years.

Eight years later, Arlene’s school bus was bombed and the girl sitting next to her was seriously injured in an attempt to kill the driver, a part-time soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment. Despite her brushes with terrorism, Foster was a bright child who loved history, played hockey and was an enthusiastic member of the all-girls’ grammar school choir.

She went on to study law at Queen’s University in Belfast and made her political intentions known, joining the Young Unionist Association. After graduating, she worked as a solicitor before marrying Brian Foster in 1995. They have three children — Ben (10), Sarah (17) and George (15).

She was active in the Ulster Unionist Party, but left it in 2004 to join the ranks of the DUP. Her reason? Foster was opposed to the Good Friday Agreement on the ground that it gave too much power and concessions to nationalists.

She’s a woman of uncompromising views — as British Prime Minister Theresa May has learnt these past few days. That doesn’t bode well for nationalists in the province, nor indeed, for most in the United Kingdom who are unfamiliar with her hard-line loyalist ideologies. There will be, after all, “No surrender”.