Foster questions existence of 'no-confidence' letter
- Published
Arlene Foster is due to step down as DUP leader on Friday and as first minister at the end of June
Outgoing First Minister Arlene Foster has said she is beginning to wonder if the DUP's "so-called" letter of no-confidence in her exists.
Mrs Foster said she still had not seen the letter which initiated the internal process that resulted in her resignation as leader.
Mrs Foster is due to step down as DUP leader on Friday and first minister at the end of June.
She said she had still not spoken to her successor, Edwin Poots.
Mrs Foster said: "I still have yet to see the letter, so-called. I'm beginning to wonder is there a letter at all."
Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster attended the reopening of the Strand Arts Centre in Belfast on Monday
It is understood the letter was signed by 22 MLAs and four MPs.
Mrs Foster said a number of her colleagues said they were the 22nd person to have signed it.
"It's now been nearly four weeks since I heard about it and I still haven't seen it."
This is extraordinary. It was a remarkable response from Arlene Foster.
She was sacked by letter, a letter she has not seen. I think all of this underlines the hurt that Arlene Foster feels about this.
We first heard her talk about not seeing the no-confidence letter a number of weeks ago.
The fact that she is still talking about this underlines her feelings and illustrates the gulf that exists between her and the Edwin Poots camp.
Many will find it weird that she has still not seen it and the fact that 10 days into the Poots' leadership, we are still talking about the no-confidence letter.
There will be some people looking at this from the outside and also find it strange that Arlene Foster and Edwin Poots have not spoken to each other.
DUP leader-designate Mr Poots last week defended the ousting of Mrs Foster as the "rough and tumble" of politics.
Former DUP assembly Brenda Hale, who represented the same constituency as Mr Poots, said the move to oust Mrs Foster was a "political assassination".
Former DUP leader Peter Robinson has also criticised the way Mrs Foster was removed as leader, saying in a Belfast Newsletter column that "having left her humiliated, they now want to leave her as roadkill".