‘DUP took us for fools’: few in North Antrim mourn fall of House of Paisley

For more than half a century, the Paisley family dominated North Antrim in a political equivalent of the Giant’s Causeway . Just as ancient volcanic fissures created a swath of interlocking basalt columns, Ian Paisley Sr’s hellfire rhetoric forged a unique brand of unionism and a family dynasty in this corner of Northern Ireland .

The Free Presbyterian preacher turned his Democratic Unionist party ( DUP ) into an electoral behemoth and passed his Westminster seat to Ian Paisley Jr, who held it from 2010 with huge majorities.

Elections came and went and the House of Paisley stood immovable, not quite a Unesco world heritage site but part of the landscape.

And then on 4 July Jim Allister of the hardline rival Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) won the seat by 450 votes in a seismic upset. While the rest of the UK digested Labour’s landslide, Northern Ireland gaped at North Antrim.

Just over a week later, with the shock still reverberating, voters in the former Paisley bastions agree on one thing: Junior had it coming.

“We lost Ian Paisley but that was a welcome loss in my eyes. He sank himself,” said Chris Bowyer, 65, who chairs a community group in Ballykeel 1, a housing estate in Ballymena. “You expect people to go out and fight for the union and not just to go off on holiday.”

It was a reference to Paisley’s suspension from the House of Commons in 2018 for becoming a “paid advocate” for the Sri Lankan government and failing to declare family holidays worth at least £50,000.

“I’m glad to see the back of him,” said Barry Lorimer, 64, a former merchant seaman. “I didn’t see the value of the man.”

Coming from a unionist it was a brutal dismissal – but even those who voted for the DUP founder’s son conceded his name had become associated with scandals and hubris. “He was a good speaker but he made mistakes,” said one supporter, who gave his name only as Freddy.

Paisley’s downfall was part of a wider splintering of the unionist vote that replaced three of the DUP’s eight MPs with Allister of the TUV plus Robin Swann of the Ulster Unionists, while Alliance, which takes no position on the union, took the third seat.

The result, depending on your perspective, is either an incoherent babble of voices that weakens the unionist cause or is evidence of varied vitality in unionist ranks.

To outsiders, Paisley’s ouster, the most spectacular and unexpected DUP loss, might appear a body blow to those who are determined to keep Northern Ireland British. His father, who died in 2014, embodied resistance to Irish nationalism and London “betrayal” and made the family name synonymous with no surrender, no retreat.

Paisley Jr, now 57, abjured biblical thunder but was an articulate, charismatic heir who gave no quarter to Sinn Féin, the Irish government or wobbly British ministers.

And yet his fall has occasioned little anguish among unionists. In fact many – even some members of his own party – are exultant and relieved. “He didn’t really have a role and made life difficult for the leadership,” said one DUP official. “There will be less mischief.” For a dynasty launched with brimstone, it is a quiet epitaph.

Paisley had a complicated relationship with the DUP head office since his father’s lieutenant, Peter Robinson, replaced Paisley Sr in 2008. It was a deft toppling of an ageing leader that angered the Paisley family – and that US Democrats can only envy.

Paisley Jr insisted he did not want the crown but remained a prince, shuttling between Westminster, Belfast and TV studios – flamboyant, outspoken, high-profile, under-employed.

Robinson’s successor, Arlene Foster, kept him at arm’s length, leaving his undoubted talents untapped, and turned a blind eye to solo runs. The maverick, after all, kept North Antrim a DUP citadel.

When Paisley partied with Nigel Farage, or boasted of links with the Trump family, some in the constituency rolled their eyes and others enjoyed the show. Junior made little secret about expensive tastes, fuelling wild rumours such as his wearing £6,000 shoes.

In fact that was the cost of a flight to New York he billed for a charity appearance , 10 times what the then Irish tánaiste, Simon Coveney, paid to fly economy to the same event. When the Sri Lanka holidays and lobbying emerged, Paisley Jr apologised and appeared to ride it out, as he had other money related disclosures. A 2018 recall petition failed .

But the revelations were having a drip-drip effect, said Dessie Blackadder, the editor of the Ballymena Guardian . “His downfall began with the scandals. It had a cumulative effect.”

Other factors drained support: unionists blamed the DUP for the post-Brexit Irish Sea border and accused the party of overselling a deal that supposedly ended border checks. Prosecutors lodged sexual offence charges against the party’s former leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. The Ulster Unionists fielded a weak candidate in North Antrim so anti-Paisley sentiment coalesced around Allister , a barrister and forensic critic of the sea border.

Even so, Paisley Jr appeared stunned when the TUV leader pipped him.

Last week the DUP office in Ballymena was closed and Paisley Jr remained silent, not responding to interview requests. His posters have come down, leaving the Paisley name invisible. “He thought he was going to get his shins kicked but got a full kicking,” said Blackadder. “People were flabbergasted but life goes on. People aren’t talking about him, they’re talking about how cold it is.”

It remains unclear what Paisley will do next. Few expect Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader, to field him for the Stormont assembly.

The other question is whether unionist parties can manage their fractures to present a coherent case for the union and repel Sinn Féin ’s push for a referendum on Irish unification. The republican party is now the biggest in local government, Stormont and Westminster.

There is little appetite to mourn Paisley Jr. “His downfall is good for the union,” said Jeffrey Dudgeon, a commentator and former Ulster Unionist politician. “His replacement has a good sense of history and is unforgiving and unforgetting.”

Geordie Nicholl, 47, a labourer with a home bedecked in union flags for Orange Order parades, said Paisley reaped the party’s sins on Brexit. “The DUP took us for fools.”

Wilbert Gilmore, 84, another Ballymena voter, said he used to march under the Paisley banner when it was a bulwark against sellouts. “Then Paisley sold us out.”

• This article was amended on 16 July 2024. An earlier version said that the DUP lost a seat to Alex Easton, an independent unionist. In fact he won his seat, North Down, from Alliance. The third seat lost by the DUP was Lagan Valley, to Alliance.