Founded: by Ian Paisley in 1971
Leader: Edwin Poots
Deputy leader: Paula Bradley
Political position: In the past the DUP has billed itself as “right-wing in the sense of being strong on the constitution”, but “to the left on social policy”
Size: It is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons with 10 seats
Need to know
The DUP is the largest unionist political party in Northern Ireland but one of the smaller parties in the House of Commons.
It gained a great deal of political influence following the 2017 General Election, as a confidence and supply partner of Theresa May’s minority Conservative government.