Democratic Unionist Party

Northern Ireland political party orientated towards the Protestant Unionist community. It opposes union with the Republic of Ireland. The DUP originated in 1971 as a breakaway from the Official Ulster Unionist Party. It was co‐founded by the Reverend Ian Paisley, a Presbyterian minister and militant Unionist MP for North Antrim, who continues to lead it. The party gained 18.1% of votes in the June 1998 elections to the new 108‐seat Belfast assembly, holding 21 seats; and took 5 seats in Westminster in the 2001 general election.

The party has a populist, blue‐collar (working‐class) appeal and, with its motto ‘Service ever, Surrender never’, has taken an unyielding position on sectarian issues and efforts by successive British governments to settle the ‘Troubles’. The DUP fiercely opposed the 1985 Anglo‐Irish Agreement, which gave the Irish Republic some say in Ulster's affairs. It has also rejected the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement: Paisley's North Antrim seat was the only Ulster constituency in which there was a majority against the Agreement in the referendum held in May 1998.