The Democratic Unionist Party was created by Desmond Boal and Ian Paisley, evolving from the Protestant Unionist Party.
It was directly opposed to the Stormont Unionists, who were open to Power Sharing with Republican and Nationalists, and equally objected to the Republic of Ireland having any involvement in Northern Ireland’s affairs. It campaigned against the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of
1985, and the subsequent peace deal that was the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. It had been linked to a variety of paramilitary organisations.
The Troubles 