Arlene Foster has said that a Democratic Unionist row over conversion therapy was the "straw that broke the camel's back" in 2021 over her removal as leader of the party in 2021.

She says she attempting to "diffuse" the situation in a vote on conversion therapy as she knew that a party member had a gay daughter.

The “trigger” for her removal she says was a vote on conversion therapy.

Baroness Foster told the podcast: “ I was aware that one of our members had a daughter who was gay - in an attempt to try and diffuse the situation, I said: 'Well, we'll just abstain.'

"It was a non-binding vote. But by saying just abstain, people got very angry about that and that was the trigger then for my removal, which came just a week later."

The former First Minister reflected on her career in politics in an interview on Surviving Politics, a new Radio Four podcast hosted by former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove.

The podcast covered much of Baroness Foster’s career and in it, she reflected on the DUP revolt against her which saw her ousted as leader of the party in 2021.

She reflected that due to the Coronavirus pandemic and remote working, she did not see it coming. She said: “Because of Covid, a lot of things were happening remotely, I didn't see a lot of it coming towards me.”

"Certainly not of the magnitude that happened and the way in which it happened, because nobody had actually come to me and said: 'Oh, by the way, I think you should step down and it's time for you to go'.

"Nobody came to me and said that, but the way they did it was that they obtained signatures on a letter of no confidence and that's how it came about."

She added that some of the hurt came from those who she had been supportive of in her time as party leader.

Baroness Foster said: “It was more hurtful actually from people who had signed the letter who I had went out of my way to help in the past.

“It’s always the people who you don’t expect who are more hurtful.”

In the interview, Baroness Foster said that former Prime Minister Theresa May  “made a mistake” on the issue of how to handle the Irish Border and dismissed alternative arrangements.

She said: “Yes, I think she made a mistake in her understanding of Northern Ireland.

“This idea that there could be no border on the island of Ireland when of course we have a monetary Border, we have a taxation Border, we’ve always had a Border with the Republic of Ireland – ask the people who smuggle across it.

“So the idea that there wasn’t going to be a Border on the island of Ireland was a mistake. And it could have been dealt with alternative arrangements, which were put forward and they were dismissed, which was wrong.”

The former Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA began her political career in the Ulster Unionist Party and left the party for the DUP in 2004.

She told Mr. Gove: “I’ve only ever been in the largest party within unionism, whether it was the Ulster Unionist Party or the Democratic Unionist Party.”

She added: “The point of a party is, it’s a vehicle to deliver for people, and for me the Union has always been the most important piece about my politics and that’s why I felt I needed to move at that time.”