DUP set to name creationist Mervyn Storey as Stormont first minister – The Times

A creationist member of a fundamentalist Christian pressure group that wants to outlaw abortion, ban gay marriage and prevent people from shopping on Sunday is being tipped as the Democratic Unionist Party’s nominee to become Northern Ireland’s next first minister.

Mervyn Storey, a North Antrim MLA, is now favourite to succeed Arlene Foster when she leaves the post at the end of June, accoprding to party sources. Storey backed Edwin Poots in his successful bid to win the DUP leadership on Friday.

Like Poots, Storey is an evangelical Christian who believes that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, but he is popular on both wings of the DUP, according to a source close to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the defeated rival candidate in the leadership