Edwin Poots: Who is the DUP leader frontrunner and what does he believe?

The widely anticipated move by Poots came 24 hours after Arlene Foster announced her intention to stand down as party leader and Stormont First Minister.

Her resignation came a day after party colleagues unhappy with her leadership moved against her, with a majority of senior elected representatives signing a letter of no confidence.

Discontent at the DUP’s Brexit strategy was a major factor, with party rank-and-file laying some of the blame for the emergence of an Irish Sea border at her door.

So who is Edwin Poots, the man hoping to replace her? 

Poots comes from vintage party stock. His father, the late Charlie Poots, is attributed as one the founding members of the party alongside the late Ian Paisley senior in 1971.

His son followed in his footsteps, starting his political career on Lisburn City Council and was later elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998.

Since then, Poots has held four ministerial portfolios – culture, environment, health and is currently agriculture minister.

His current job could be regarded as a comfortable fit for the Lisburn man who comes from a farming background, however the role became less so at times as the minister with responsibility for implementing the checks required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

2021 has also been a challenging year for Poots personally having received a diagnosis of kidney cancer, discovered by chance when he underwent surgery on a burst appendix before Christmas.

He briefly stepped aside from his ministerial portfolio in February, however was back at his desk following a successful operation by early March.

What does Poots believe?

Poots is considered to be from the more hardline/religious fundamentalist wing of the party.

He is a creationist, who in 2007 said he believes the world is 6000 years old. He also criticised scientists for wanting to “indoctrinate everyone” with the theory of evolution.

Asked during a BBC interview how old he thinks the Earth is, he reportedly said: “My view on the Earth is that it's a young Earth. My view is 4000 BC.”

Another interviewee replied: “You’re the culture minister and you don’t believe in evolution?”

Poots said: “Yes, absolutely. And you're telling me that all of this evolution took place over billions of years, and yet it's only in the last few thousand years that Man could actually learn to write?”

You can read the transcript of that interview here.

When Foster became first minister, Poots also caused controversy by saying her “most important job” was still “that of a wife, mother and daughter”.

READ MORE: Arlene Foster to quit as Northern Ireland's first minister and DUP leader

Campaigners accused him of “belittling” women, but Poots insisted he places the same emphasis on his own role as a dad.

He stood by the comments, telling BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback that he makes no apologies for “defending the family”.

In 2013, Poots defended his stance on gay adoption after he was accused of having “backward” views. The Supreme Court had refused to let him appeal a High Court decision allowing gay and unmarried couples to adopt children.

After the decision, he said: "When it comes to adoption I've just come from an MLU, a Midwifery Lead Unit in Lagan Valley today and all of the people that were giving birth in that unit were women and all of those women would not have been impregnated by another woman.

"The natural order - whether one believes in God or whether one believes in evolution - is for a man and a woman to have a child and therefore that has made my views on adoption very clear and on raising children very clear, that it should be a man and a woman that raises a child.

"Now people can criticise me for that and they can challenge me for it and they can say it's backward.

"The truth is that still today in this modern era it is only a man and a woman that can produce a child and therefore I think its in the best order for a man and a woman to raise a child."