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Edwin Poots

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Edwin Poots
MLA
Poots in 2012
Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
Elect
Assuming office
28 May 2021
DeputyPaula Bradley (elect)
SucceedingArlene Foster
Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 January 2020
First MinisterArlene Foster
Preceded byMichelle McIlveen
Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
In office
6 May 2011 – 23 September 2014
Preceded byMichael McGimpsey
Succeeded byJim Wells
Minister of the Environment
In office
1 July 2009 – 6 May 2011
Preceded bySammy Wilson
Succeeded byAlex Attwood
Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure
In office
8 May 2007 – 9 June 2008
Preceded byMichael McGimpsey
Succeeded byGregory Campbell
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Lagan Valley
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 June 1998
Preceded byConstituency created
Personal details
Born (1965-05-27) 27 May 1965 (age 59)
Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Political partyDemocratic Unionist
SpouseGlynis Poots
Children4
Alma materCollege of Agriculture
OccupationFarmer
WebsiteEdwin Poots MLA

Edwin Poots (born 27 April 1965) is a politician from Northern Ireland who was elected leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on 14 May 2021. He will succeed Arlene Foster on 28 May 2021. He has served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 1998, and as Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs from January 2020.

In 2007, First Minister Ian Paisley appointed Poots to the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure. Poots left office after Peter Robinson became First Minister in 2008. In 2009, Poots returned to the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister of the Environment, before being promoted to Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in 2011. He was removed as Health Minister in 2014. In 2020, he was reappointed to the Executive by First Minister Arlene Foster as Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs. After Foster resigned as DUP leader the following year, Poots was elected as her successor after defeating Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in the 2021 Democratic Unionist Party leadership election.

Early life

Poots was educated at the Wallace High School, Lisburn, and then studied at Greenmount Agricultural College. He is a farmer and is married with four children.[citation needed]

His father, Charles Poots, was also a DUP politician, having stood in the 1969 Northern Ireland general election for the Protestant Unionist Party.

One of Edwin Poot's sons was a councillor with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council,[1] but he did not seek reelection in the 2019 Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council election.[2][3]

Career

Local and regional politics

Poots served as a local government councillor on Lisburn City Council before being elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 1998 election.[4] He was a member of the Environment Committee and chaired the Committee of the Centre (Committee for the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister) in the 1998–2003 Assembly.

On 8 May 2007, he was appointed Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the Northern Ireland Executive, a post he held until 9 June 2008, when a cabinet re-shuffle saw this post being reassigned to Gregory Campbell.[5] He was subsequently made Deputy Mayor of Lisburn on 23 June 2008.[6]

On 1 July 2009, Poots was returned to the Executive as Minister of the Environment, in charge of the Department of the Environment. In May 2011, he was appointed as Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.[7]

In June 2011, Poots fired his legal shotgun twice from his upstairs window as a warning to intruders on his property in Lisburn, who then fled. His family called the police and an investigation began.[8][9][10] A DUP spokesman said "Given the risk to Mr Poots and his family, a legally held shotgun was safely discharged into the air by Mr Poots from within his house to alert the intruders that their presence was known."[11]

On 23 September 2014, Poots was replaced by Jim Wells as Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.[12]

DUP leadership

On 29 April 2021, Poots announced his candidacy in the 2021 Democratic Unionist Party leadership election to succeed Arlene Foster as DUP leader, the day after Foster declared she would be resigning.[13]

To date, the First Minister has been the leader of the main Unionist party. However, according to the Sunday Life, Poots would not want to be First Minister if he became DUP leader.[14]

Poots was announced as leader of the DUP on 14 May 2021, beating Sir Jeffrey Donaldson by 19 votes to 17.[15]

Views

Poots is a young earth creationist and rejects the theory of evolution.[16] In an interview with BBC presenter William Crawley, when asked how old the Earth was, Poots replied: "My view on the earth is that it's a young earth. My view is 4,000 BC". Young earth creationism is accepted by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, of which Poots is a member, and other conservative evangelicals in Northern Ireland.[17] In a 2012 Belfast Telegraph article, which discussed lobbying by the creationist bible group the Caleb Foundation, Poots reportedly stated that, while not a member of the group, "Some of my views coincide with the Caleb Foundation".[18]

Poots faced criticism for banning blood donations from gay people,[19] saying: "I think that people who engage in high-risk sexual behaviour in general should be excluded from giving blood".[20] In June 2012, Poots said he wanted to extend the ban to people who have sex "with somebody in Africa or sex with prostitutes", stating that, in his view, this was also high-risk sexual behaviour.[20]

In September 2013, as Health Minister for Northern Ireland, he fought the ruling that would bring laws around LGBT adoption in Northern Ireland into line with other parts of the United Kingdom.[21]

In January 2016, Poots was criticised by gender equality advocates, political commentators and other politicians for saying that the newly elected First Minister, Arlene Foster's, most important job was as a "wife, mother and daughter".[22][23][24][25] Poots defended himself saying his statement was "not sexist" and that he considered his most important job to be that of a "husband, father and son".[26][27]

In October 2020, he was criticised by members of Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party after saying coronavirus was more common in nationalist areas. He stated: "There is a difference between nationalist areas and unionist areas – and the difference is around six to one".[28] The Department of Health issued a statement confirming that "data on Covid infections is not collected according to religious or political affiliation".[28]

Personal life

In December 2020, it was reported that while recovering from surgery, Poots had tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first Executive minister to do so.[29] In January 2021 he revealed to Stephen Nolan that he has cancer,[30] and on 2 February 2021 Poots temporarily stood down for health reasons, before returning to work several weeks later.[31][32]

References

  1. ^ "Watchdog probe against DUP's Luke Poots 'ongoing'". irishnews.com. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2021. The former Lisburn and Castlereagh councillor, whose father is DUP MLA Edwin Poots
  2. ^ "DUP's Edwin Poots wrote to Attorney General about son's driving case". irishnews.com. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2021. Luke Poots did not stand for re-election to Lisburn and Castlereagh council last year, saying that "opportunities have arisen for me outside politics"
  3. ^ "DUP's Luke Poots says he will not be standing in May election". belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Belfast Telegraph. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Who is Edwin Poots, frontrunner to replace Arlene Foster?". independent.co.uk. The Independent. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Poots dropped as culture minister". BBC News. BBC. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  6. ^ "New Mayor and Deputy Mayor". lisburncity.gov.uk. Lisburn City Council. 8 July 2008. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  7. ^ "New Stormont ministers announced". BBC News. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Edwin Poots fired warning shots to scare intruders". BBC. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  9. ^ "NI minister fired shots to warn off intruders". Rte.ie. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  10. ^ "NI Minister Fires Warning Shots". 4ni.co.uk. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Shotgun Poots: Government Health Minister opened fire with weapon to warn off intruders". belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  12. ^ "Peter Robinson announces 'major' DUP reshuffle: Edwin Poots and Nelson McCausland out". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  13. ^ Young, David; Black, Rebecca (29 April 2021). "Edwin Poots announces candidacy for DUP leadership". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Edwin Poots doesn't want to be Northern Ireland First Minister, he plans to split DUP posts and concentrate on party". Belfast Telegraph.
  15. ^ "Edwin Poots elected DUP leader". BBC News. BBC. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  16. ^ William Crawley. "Will & Testament: Are religious politicians "nutters"?". BBC. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  17. ^ "Creationism and political power in Northern Ireland". New Statesman. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Caleb Foundation: The Creationist Bible group and its web of influence at Stormont". Belfast Telegraph. 1 September 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Frequently outspoken Edwin Poots is no stranger to controversy". irishnews.com. Irish News. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Edwin Poots criticised over African blood donation remark". BBC News. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  21. ^ "Gay and unmarried adoption battle set for Supreme Court". BBC News. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  22. ^ "Father Ted writer Graham Linehan says Edwin Poots 'sexist' praise of Arlene Foster shows challenge facing Northern Ireland abortion campaigners". belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Belfast Telegraph. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021. The remarks prompted accusations of sexism on social media. Former DUP member Deirdre Nelson wrote: The party is a cold house for women. Bullying of competent women remains rife
  23. ^ "DUP's Edwin Poots: Remarks on Arlene Foster 'not sexist'". bbc.com. BBC. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  24. ^ "'Her second most important job': One politician's take on the North's first female leader". thejournal.ie. Journal Media Ltd. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Edwin Poots' comments misplaced, sexist and outdated". irishnews.com. Irish News. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  26. ^ "Arlene Foster appoints Mervyn Storey to finance in first-day reshuffle". Irish Times. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  27. ^ "DUP's Poots could have become involved with paramilitaries 'but for Ian Paisley's influence'". Belfast Telegraph. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  28. ^ a b "Coronavirus: Call for DUP's Edwin Poots to apologise". BBC News. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  29. ^ Cross, Gareth (15 December 2020). "DUP Minister Edwin Poots tests positive for Covid-19". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  30. ^ "DUP's Edwin Poots reveals cancer battle". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  31. ^ "Edwin Poots steps down for 'surgery and recuperation'". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 2 January 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  32. ^ "Edwin Poots returns to Assembly three weeks after receiving surgery following a cancer diagnosis". newsletter.co.uk. The News Letter. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
Northern Ireland Forum
New forum Member for Lagan Valley
1996–1998 		Forum dissolved
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly MLA for Lagan Valley
1998–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
Michael McGimpsey 		Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of the Environment
2009–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
2011–2014 		Succeeded by
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