Gavin Robinson attempts a reset after a difficult year

Gavin Robinson took to the stage in his first speech as DUP leader. Addressing around 300 delegates, he attempted to reset a party that had been battered over the past three years. With devolution restored and a run of elections now behind the party, Robinson has a huge task ahead. How do you restore a once-dominant party to its former strength?

One clear message from the conference is that the DUP is in a rebuilding phase. Despite the success of returning Gavin to East Belfast, they had a bad day on July 4th. Indeed, the past few years have not gone well for the leaders of Unionism. This was partly reflected in some of the mood at the conference, which was subdued and lacked the energy of previous DUP conferences.

Something in Gavin’s favour is that he is genuinely liked and supported by his party. There is a broad acceptance that he played a difficult hand as well as he could at the last election. Nothing was forced about the applause he received as he entered the hall. The task for him is that whilst he is liked by colleagues and in his own constituency, can he translate this outside to the broader public?

Ten years ago, at the party’s 2014 conference, Gavin was confirmed as the candidate for DUP’s top target seat of East Belfast. Today, he is the party leader, with a more significant challenge.

Robinson set out his stall;

As your leader, in this my first leader’s speech, my commitment to you will be service ever; honesty and an up-front pledge to act to better the cause of the people we serve. Like you, I believe in Northern Ireland, its people and this place. We believe in the Union.In serving our people, we will lead. And through our Leadership, will we serve all in Northern Ireland, building our Province and strengthening the bonds and ties within our United Kingdom.

On the election,

Whilst we secured victory in five constituencies, we suffered a difficult night at the election and we will learn and rebuild from that. I’m delighted that Carla, Jim, Sammy and Gregory are all at Westminster and are actively speaking up for their constituents as well as campaigning for Northern Ireland on the issues that matter most.

Robinson also spoke about the road ahead for the DUP;

In the months ahead I will be active in listening as we work to re-engage with communities across Northern Ireland. Our party has prided itself on being on the ground and delivering, and in the coming months we will be engaging with our communities in every part of Northern Ireland as part of a new approach under my leadership.I am determined that in the remaining months of 2024 you will see that with a new leader there will be a new approach, both internally and externally, as to how we do our business which will be people-centred and focused on getting outcomes that better the lives of all our people.

Gavin also talked about Unionist unity;

With your support, I will continue to build and re-new our party, our structures and our purpose. We will do it, not for the sake of it, but because the task before us, isn’t simply mine or for any one of us. It rests with all of us. The DUP. Where it is appropriate, we will engage with and co-operate with fellow Unionists both inside and outside other parties. We should never believe we ourselves have a monopoly on wisdom or ideas. I hope that discussions with Mike, Jim and Russell will prove more productive than what went before. Pro-Union voters demonstrated in North Down what is possible and we look forward to continuing to co-operate with the Independent Member of Parliament Alex Easton. The story could have been different in Fermanagh South Tyrone with an agreed candidate and in Lagan Valley, 29,000 pro Union votes were defeated by division. This need not be the case. For too long, too many within unionism have thrived on attacking one another. Let me say very clearly, I am not interested. Our electorate is not interested

David McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs