The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a conservative political party in Northern Ireland that was founded on 30 September 1971 by Protestant Ulster loyalists. The DUP represented the Ulster Scots settlers, and it was the political wing of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during The Troubles. The DUP agreed to enter a power sharing government with Sinn Fein in 2007 with the goal of ending the political division of Northern Ireland, and it became the largest political party in Northern Ireland. The party became known for its homophobia, its social conservatism, and its sectarian (anti-Catholic) views, and its views were even more extreme than some members of the UK Conservative Party in the rest of the United Kingdom. In 2017, the party agreed to form a coalition government with Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative administration after a snap election led to the Conservatives losing their absolute majority.
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