Breaking News: After more than five turbulent years as DUP leader, Arlene Foster’s time at the helm of Northern Ireland’s biggest party appears to be coming to an end after 75% of her MLAs signed a letter calling for a leadership contest. https://t.co/hn8lnDDmmx
— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) April 27, 2021
PA are reporting that Arlene Foster was due to meet Secretary of State Brandon Lewis at 5.30 this evening but pulled out at 5pm. Quite a change from the First Minister who 3 hours earlier breezily said: "These [leadership] stories come up from time to time. This is no different”.
— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) April 27, 2021
New: There are actually four sets of letters swirling around in the DUP, each of which is very bad for Arlene Foster. A letter circulating among DUP councillors says: "We call upon [sic] the immediate resignation of the leader & deputy leader." https://t.co/Uu6pkKKS2W
— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) April 27, 2021
The feeling is Foster has been too soft. She lost Loyalists & middle class Unionists over Brexit protocol & putting faith in Boris Johnson. She lost religious support over abstaining on so-called ‘gay conversion therapy’ and allowing Westminster to legislate for abortion in NI.
— Peter A Smith (@PeterAdamSmith) April 27, 2021
DUP moving to right-wing traditional ground may halt drift of support to TUV, but runs the risk of increasing the defection of its moderate voters to Alliance. Biggest political winner if Arlene Foster goes could be Naomi Long.https://t.co/rlXr7KCsIo
— Suzanne Breen (@SuzyJourno) April 27, 2021
Is Arlene Foster’s leadership of DUP coming to an end? @paraicobrien is at Stormont.https://t.co/hSsI69dtkl
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) April 27, 2021
The tragedy of Arlene Foster’s *leadership* is that her elevation to leader of DUP attracted *unprecedented*levels of goodwill across the political spectrum.
— Deirdre Heenan (@deirdreheenan) April 27, 2021
Her intransigence, petulance, arrogance, lack of generosity, & political myopia have been catastrophic for Unionism.
It would appear that Arlene Foster is under pressure because she is not homophobic ENOUGH! Living in Northern Ireland we are confused and seem to think that we live in 2021 like the rest of Western society. Nope. We live in 1955. Meanwhile we pretend to be open for business.
— Tim McKane (@timmckane) April 27, 2021
Beginning to feel like a full-blown revolution at the heart of the DUP: and an ideological warfare that goes beyond the internal criticism that has accompanied Foster for months. And I’m not quite sure where all the pieces will land. So I’m going to bed : )
— Alex.Kane (@AlexKane221b) April 27, 2021
Recorded earlier this week before *that* letter was signed, @BrianPJRowan’s warning about Stormont being on its last chance should perhaps be echoing in the ears of whoever ends up leading the DUP and/or is First Minister in the coming days #sluggertv pic.twitter.com/OjIq30tdeH
— Slugger O'Toole (@SluggerOToole) April 27, 2021
Leaving the question of ‘the Union’ itself aside, I think we can now conclude that Brexit and the campaign to leave the EU have not been good for Unionism in NI.
— Duncan Morrow (@duncan_morrow) April 27, 2021
MPs voted 431 to 89 to back the Secretary of State's controversial new powers over the NI Executive and public health bodies on issue of abortion provision in NIhttps://t.co/DWwon7gw9F
— Belfast News Letter (@News_Letter) April 27, 2021
'Progress' on NI Protocol but Von der Leyen warns UK EU will not hesitate to act if Brexit deal breached https://t.co/Ta4RORtLDN pic.twitter.com/TBCREZZAMW
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) April 27, 2021
"…the cold truth is that Boris Johnson has shown more energy and interest in a debate about football leagues than he has about violence on our streets in recent weeks"https://t.co/xxqAAosG59
— The Irish News (@irish_news) April 27, 2021
Meanwhile…
The man ranked 521st richest person in UK with est. £271m fortune, who paid the Tory party nearly £60,000 towards Boris Johnson's requested refurbishments, runs a firm linked to awards of contracts worth as much as £120,060,000https://t.co/49b83BDtiR pic.twitter.com/qXJoKmQ7y3
— The Citizens (@allthecitizens) April 27, 2021
Green light for High Court challenge to Boris Johnson's decision to not sack Priti Patel
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) April 27, 2021
Great work @FDA_union https://t.co/vbTYwSyzl1
Wednesday's Express: "Boris: My 'bounce back' Britain mission" #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/7FuHsAa3Vz pic.twitter.com/VslV0llE3L
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 27, 2021
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says "there's a stench of sleaze" around Boris Johnson's government after alleged comments about letting "the bodies pile high".
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) April 27, 2021
Scottish Conservatives' Douglas Ross says he believes the PM's denials. #NextLeaderOfScotland pic.twitter.com/RUpAsC3wNq
Douglas Ross repeatedly refused to state that his boss is a 'man of integrity and honour'https://t.co/Ale7BEN4Zt
— The National (@ScotNational) April 27, 2021
He's not even close. pic.twitter.com/Te2Kyzzpsp
— Hugh Odling-Smee (@smeeho7) April 27, 2021
***
CDC EASES OUTDOOR MASK RULES
President Biden: “The bottom line is clear: If you're vaccinated, you can do more things, more safely, both outdoors as well as indoors. So for those who haven't gotten their vaccination yet, this is another great reason to go get vaccinated. Now."https://t.co/otWXsoDj8o
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) April 27, 2021
President Biden plans to reference the January 6 riot during his first address to Congress tomorrow night. The president has spent hours going over the language and themes of his speech with his team. Behind that prep w/ @Kevinliptakcnn: https://t.co/KyreBc1Wup
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 27, 2021
President Biden, a longtime Amtrak rider, will travel to Philadelphia on Friday to attend the railroad’s 50th-anniversary celebration and to promote his infrastructure plan. https://t.co/KOwyy615QN
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 27, 2021
Yes he did. https://t.co/lB6fKujGxS
— Jennifer "A man is not a plan" Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) April 27, 2021
See also. Blatant lie, easily debunked … any consequences? Of any kind? https://t.co/bnoioEOOSC
— David Roberts (@drvolts) April 27, 2021
New: The reporter who wrote the false New York Post story about the Harris book tweets that she has resigned from the paper after having been “ordered to write” the inaccurate article. pic.twitter.com/P94mQszTdO
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 27, 2021
Oh look, here's @ParkerMolloy, making my point at length! (Or, I guess if you care about the linear flow of time, it's her point, which I made at brevity.) https://t.co/jiANfzw5hR
— David Roberts (@drvolts) April 27, 2021
“What happened on Jan. 6 is unprecedented in our history…And so, I think it's very important that the Jan. 6 commission stays focused on what happened on Jan. 6, and what led to that day."
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 26, 2021
— Liz Cheney https://t.co/j0nJ5qUBYV
“I do think that some of our candidates who led the charge, particularly the senators who led the unconstitutional charge, not to certify the election, you know, in my view that’s disqualifying,”https://t.co/EqQtpUHfIV
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 27, 2021
Over the past decade, the U.S. population grew at the second slowest rate since the government started counting in 1790, the Census Bureau reported on Monday, driven in part by a declining birthrate. https://t.co/bJknn9mX2i
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) April 27, 2021
New census numbers explained, the origin of a viral immigration photo, and a win for the Democratic establishment in Louisiana. All that and more – including Tim Ryan’s big move – in today’s Trailer by @daveweigelhttps://t.co/ax2cgXJ8zI
— Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) April 27, 2021
The current 117th Congress is only 4 months old, but already 5 Republican senators and 6 Republican representatives have announced they will not stay in their current jobs. https://t.co/Q4P9DSe9ts
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) April 27, 2021
After four years of soaring revenues, lobbying firms with close ties to the Trump administration are now struggling to attract clients with Joe Biden in the White House.https://t.co/phTb9EwnMB
— OpenSecrets.org (@OpenSecretsDC) April 27, 2021
Opinion | @RWPUSA: The Trump White House flouted rules designed to prevent ethical breaches. It’s important to make sure, at the very least, these abuses are identified publicly and clearly. https://t.co/SbMNGedIGb
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 27, 2021
Finally…
A secret video obtained by The New Yorker and @teamtrace shows the N.R.A. chief Wayne LaPierre and his wife hunting elephants. His wife, Susan, kills an elephant, cuts off its tail, and holds it in the air. “Victory!” she shouts. https://t.co/A6SLRA69wW
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) April 27, 2021
The Overnight Note 