How can the DUP support Brexit when Northern Ireland does not?

Brexit Explained: The party propping up the Tory government puts the union before everything – even its own electorate

The DUP has always been a Eurosceptic party, campaigning against common market membership in the 1970s. The party’s founder Ian Paisley felt the European Union was part of a conspiracy to create a Catholic superstate controlled by the Vatican, once even claiming that seat number 666 at the European parliament was reserved for the Antichrist.

The party went on to enjoy the best of both worlds, remaining deeply critical of the EU while taking seats in its parliament – and welcoming the money it directs to Northern Ireland. EU support for Northern Ireland, particularly after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, plays a key role in peacekeeping and economic prosperity.

But the DUP has a very conservative, imperialist vision for Britain, free from the reins of Europe, and dominant on the world stage as a solo entity. This is the common ground it shares with the Conservative European Research Group, and even Ukip. So, when the referendum on EU membership came up in 2016, the party’s leaders attempted to have their cake and eat it: they would get behind this nationalist campaign for Brexit, safe in the knowledge that it would probably never happen. Except it did.