Edwin Poots: Who is the new leader of the DUP?

Edwin Poots is steeped in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

He has been in frontline politics for almost three decades, and his father was one of the DUP's founding members.

But it has been a long rise to the top of the party ranks for Edwin Poots.

Born in May 1965 in Lisburn, County Antrim, he studied at Greenmount Agricultural College - farming being his first interest, which has stood him in good stead at Stormont.

A former councillor in Lisburn, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time in 1998.

It was then he first came to prominence when he opposed the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement.

Mr Poots and other unionist politicians argued that there needed to be clear evidence of the IRA's decommissioning of weapons.

He also disagreed on the reformation of the police, which would eventually see the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

After the DUP and Sinn Féin agreed to share power together and formed a government in 2007, Mr Poots was appointed as culture and arts minister in the executive.

It would be the first of a number of ministerial briefs he has held during his political career.

In 2011, he was appointed health minister, a role in which he often made headlines.

The DUP is a socially conservative party and Edwin Poots has spoken openly in favour of that stance.

He faced criticism when he maintained a ban on gay men in Northern Ireland donating blood, despite the ban having been lifted in the rest of the UK.

Mr Poots maintained the ban in Northern Ireland on the basis of ensuring public safety - but the High Court later ruled that the ban was irrational.

At one stage, he also argued against allowing gay couples from adopting children.

Mr Poots's religiously-influenced views - including his belief that the earth is 6,000 years old - have also generated headlines in the past.

In 2018, he was embroiled in controversy after it emerged that his son Luke, who was then a councillor, had voted on planning applications for which Edwin Poots lobbied.

Mr Poots told the BBC: "No conflict of interest has been exercised in any shape or form by either myself, my son, other DUP members or anybody else on the council.

"The council makes their decisions based on the information provided to them."

He has never been an MP, having spent much of his career based at Stormont.

In January 2020, he was reinstated as a NI Executive minister when power-sharing returned, taking up the mantle of the agriculture and environment department.

It seemed a sensible fit for the Lisburn farmer.

But it would present difficulties as his department was tasked with overseeing the construction of post-Brexit border control posts - implementing the Irish Sea border that he and other DUP colleagues staunchly opposed.

In February, he faced criticism for withdrawing staff carrying out Brexit checks at Larne port, citing fears for their safety.

He has also been an outspoken opponent of coronavirus lockdown restrictions over the past year.

Other political parties called for him to apologise after he said the difference in transmission between nationalist and unionist areas was "around six to one".

Mr Poots insisted he hadn't linked the spread of the virus to religious affiliations, but it caused a rift with executive colleagues at a time when ministers were faced with tackling a surge in cases.

In November 2020, he said he had opposed tough lockdown restrictions imposed by the executive due to the impact they would have on the economy - which led to accusations that he was undermining the health messaging.

Two months later, Mr Poots revealed he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer and needed to undergo emergency surgery. He stood down temporarily, but within a matter of weeks he had recovered, and returned to his job in the executive.

He has made no secret of having a long-running ambition to lead the DUP.

When Arlene Foster agreed to stand down last month, he became the first person to announce that he wanted to replace her.

He claimed early on in the race that he had the backing of a majority of MLAs and MPs, despite counter claims from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's camp.

He said one of his main priorities was to reform the way the party was run and set up new leadership groups.

He also made it clear that he would split the roles of first minister and party leader, insisting one person could not do them both.

Now he has won the support of his colleagues, there is a bigger challenge.

Can he convince the electorate he is the right person to lead the DUP, and show that his party has much to offer?