DUP MP Paul Girvan has claimed he was “totally disappointed” that the platform of an anti-protocol meeting in Co Antrim was used to attack his political party at the weekend.
The South Antrim MP raised eyebrows after he turned up at the Friday night event in Ballyclare Orange Hall.
The gathering, which was organised by a local orange lodge, had been promoted as an ‘anti-protocol public meeting’.
Publicity material featuring pictures of TUV leader Jim Allister and loyalist commentator Jamie Bryson was circulated ahead of the event.
The pair were advertised as delivering “an analysis of the surrender deal”.
During his address on Friday night, Jamie Bryson acknowledged the presence of Paul Girvan in the hall, and questioned whether other DUP MPs “stand over Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s claims, or do they tell the truth and pledge to continue the fight?”
Ahead of the forthcoming UK general election, the loyalist activist has called on unionist candidates to make a pledge to oppose the implementation of the Windsor Framework.
“I see here tonight the DUP MP Paul Girvan is here,” said Mr Bryson from the podium.
“Paul has said he makes the pledge, he stands against the Irish Sea border and rejects the deal.
“What about Gavin Robinson and what about Jeffrey Donaldson,” he continued. ”There is one of the DUP MPs who has made a pledge, what will the rest of them do?”
But in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Friday night and hastily shared by the DUP on its social media channels, Paul Girvan said: “Tonight I attended, for a short time, what was advertised as a public meeting in my constituency.
“Rather than the meeting being about unionism working together to resolve outstanding issues relating to the Protocol, it instead concentrated on bashing the DUP and other unionists.
“I was totally disappointed to hear the platform being used for petty and vindictive attacks on my DUP colleagues and other fellow unionists.
“It is clear the meeting was designed to divide unionism and will only serve to boost those who want to see us fail to make Northern Ireland work.”
Last month the DUP’s East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson stepped down as the party’s chief whip at Westminster, fuelling speculation over a split within the DUP’s Westminster cohort over Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s deal to return to Stormont.
