DIANE Dodds’s transition from Brussels to Stormont also sees her step straight into the Executive, taking the economy portfolio after a 13-year absence from the assembly.
The wife of DUP deputy leader Nigel broke new ground for the party in 2003 when she became the first unionist to win an assembly seat in West Belfast for two decades.
Two years later Ms Dodds (61), a qualified teacher originally from Rathfriland, was elected onto Belfast City Council with a huge personal tally.
She narrowly lost her assembly seat in 2007 but was elected to the European Parliament in 2009, a role she will have to relinquish on January 31.
The fifth DUP politician to hold the high-profile economy portfolio, her knowledge of European and Brexit matters should benefit in a year where the north’s trading relationships with the EU and Britain will be under intense scrutiny.
