Arlene Foster “very humbled” by support she has received

The North's Minister for Finance, Arlene Foster, will learn tonight whether anyone else within the DUP will challenge her for the leadership of the party.

At the time of writing no DUP MP or Assembly member has come forward to compete against her although East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson is considering whether he should.

Ms Foster remains the firm favourite to succeed Peter Robinson both as DUP leader and First Minister, after deputy leader Nigel Dodds surprisingly ruled himself out of the race.

First Minister

Mr Dodds was expected to be elected leader tomorrow week and it was thought that early in the new year he would appoint Ms Foster as First Minister. Ms Foster is now expected to take both positions.

Ms Foster, when examining flood damage in her Fermanagh South Tyrone constituency yesterday, said she was “very humbled” by the support she had received within the party.

"I am very much looking forward to leading the party, if that is the wish of the party, as I believe I have the ability and vision to lead the party forward into the next hundred years of Northern Ireland, " she told UTV.

Ms Foster said she believed she and Mr Dodds as deputy leader would still operate as a team. Mr Dodds is viewed as being closer to the more fundamentalist wing of the DUP than Ms Foster. A former Ulster Unionist, she is seen as representing the more modernist strand.

Mr Wilson has until this evening to decide if he will challenge Ms Foster. “I am not in a position to make a comment,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Well-placed sources said Mr Wilson was tempted to challenge Ms Foster and was still weighing up whether it would be in his interests to put his name forward. He will be conscious if he runs that he will be competing against an Assembly member and Minister who is clearly First Minister Mr Robinson’s chosen successor.

Election date

The new leader will be elected on Thursday of next week by the 46-member DUP parliamentary party of one MEP, MPs and Assembly members.

“Arlene’s nomination was submitted with the support of over 75 per cent of those entitled to vote in the electoral college,” Mr Robinson tweeted.