THE DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and BBC broadcaster Stephen Nolan have clashed on air over how the deal to restore Stormont was reached.
With power-sharing finally set to return on Saturday after two years, Sir Jeffrey took issue with Mr Nolan’s broadcast last month in which he claimed a senior DUP source had said that the party’s officer board was gathering for a “deal or no deal” meeting.
In an extended interview on Friday, the DUP leader was asked if he really had the support of his party, the detail of the deal and what the future will hold.
Regarding a command paper, in which the British government set out its position on the Stormont deal, Sir Jeffrey was asked why the DUP’s executive, comprising around 100 members, hadn’t been given a chance to read it before voting to endorse it.
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In response, Sir Jeffrey said his members had been given a detailed presentation on the contents of the paper on the day Mr Nolan had reported on the meeting his source had characterised as “make or break”.
Mr Nolan replied: “One of the most senior people in your party described it as make or break.”
Sir Jeffrey added: “And they were wrong... you should be very careful in the future who you listen to. Lift the phone, I will take your call. If you want to ask me, and you never do.
“You see, this is the problem. You get these unnamed sources, I don’t know who they are, you claim they’re senior. You just trot out what they tell you but you never test it, you never test it with me the leader of the party.
“I could have saved you the trouble of breaking your holiday that day by saying, ‘Stephen, that is nonsense.’”
Mr Nolan said he had contacted the DUP on the day of the broadcast, but the response was that the party would not be giving a running commentary.
“You could have shut it down, you could have said no and your party did not do that,” the presenter said.
Sir Jeffrey replied: “This is all about you Stephen… so that you could get your senior source, quote unquote, to give you a copy of the command paper and before my members have had the chance to study it properly and before we had the opportunity to launch it for the public.
“You would have been sitting here and doing your exclusive because you’ve got your command paper.”
