DUP to hold first conference since Donaldson resignation

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will gather on Saturday for its first conference since Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigned as leader, after being charged with historical sex offences.

Gavin Robinson, who replaced him, will make his first major address to the party membership as leader.

Robinson was ratified as DUP leader in May, when the party was preparing to fight the general election.

He will tell delegates that with a new leader comes a "new approach, both internally and externally".

In his speech, Robinson is expected to say: "If the message of Easter reminds us of anything, it’s that the darkness of Good Friday has passed; we won’t live in the shadows of yesterday but walk in the light of today and for the hope of tomorrow."

He will say that he is determined to change how the party does business, which will be "people-centred and focused on getting outcomes that better the lives of all our people".

One of his first challenges as leader was steering the DUP through the general election in July, which saw the party lose three of its seats at Westminster.

Robinson is expected to say that while the next assembly election is two and a half years away, the party "must use the season wisely".

"What we plant now, we must be ready to harvest, not for the DUP, but for Northern Ireland. The work has already started and will continue in the weeks ahead," he will say.

"The opportunity is great, but hope alone won’t secure it. Action is hope. There is no hope without action... and if we don't grasp this moment who will?"

The Belfast East MP is expected to criticise those within unionism who have "thrived on attacking one another".

"Let me say very clearly, I am not interested. Our electorate is not interested .

"For our part I am not prepared to be part of a cycle of pro-union in-fighting between people who should be working together and who say they share the same goal," he will tell the conference.

He is unlikely to be mentioned by name, but Sir Jeffrey's shock resignation makes for an awkward backdrop to this year's DUP conference.

This time last year, of course, all eyes were on the then-DUP leader as he spoke of Stormont being the only show in town - it was a symbolic speech.

Sir Jeffrey's downfall five months later left his party in the lurch, just weeks after he had negotiated and delivered the very deal that saw the return of devolution.

Attention immediately turned to Gavin Robinson, then deputy leader, to step forward and navigate the party through choppy waters.

Having worked to distance itself from Sir Jeffrey and survived a turbulent general election, on the surface things now appear a little calmer.

But how Robinson intends to chart a new course is the question he faces, as he prepares to make one of the biggest speeches yet of his political career.