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A supposedly confidential meeting of Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party on a controversial Brexit deal descended into chaos on Monday night after a loyalist activist live-tweeted details of the gathering that were allegedly being leaked from inside.
Jamie Bryson, who opposes the deal, posted a running commentary of the crunch gathering of the Democratic Unionist party’s more than 100-strong executive as expectations rose that leaders were preparing to end a boycott of Northern Ireland’s political institutions that has run on for nearly two years.
Writing on X, Bryson, who is not a DUP member, described furious party figures barking “Phones off!” and said they even tried to get the police to block mobile phone signals from the luxury Larchfield Estate near Hillsborough — a popular wedding venue that on Monday bore witness instead to the depth of unionist divisions.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who has been struggling for months to secure a compromise deal that will placate party hardliners, was met by around 40 protesters with placards including “Stop the DUP sellout”.
On X, Bryson wrote that his posts had sparked “fury and mayhem” inside the room where senior party figures had assembled.
He said Donaldson opened the meeting by saying negotiations with London on post-Brexit trading rules were over, that the DUP would not win further concessions, and that “we have reached moment of decision”.
It was unclear who was passing Bryson the information.
Donaldson triggered the collapse of the Stormont power-sharing executive and assembly in February 2022 and has been boycotting it entirely since elections in May 2022, in which the DUP lost its long-dominant place as the region’s biggest party, coming second to the nationalist Sinn Féin.
He has been negotiating with the UK government for months to seek further guarantees that Northern Ireland’s place within the UK and its ability to trade with Britain will not be undermined, and has sought to keep all details secret as he struggles to contain deep splits in his party.
A final decision on the deal will be taken by Donaldson and his 11 party officers and a crunch moment was widely believed to be approaching. The UK government has set a new deadline of February 8 for the restoration of the executive.
London has promised a £3.3bn financial package for the region, contingent on Stormont’s return, as well as legislation to assuage the DUP’s concerns.
Bryson wrote on X that the UK government was expected to publish the legislation this week, before the DUP “jump” into finally endorsing the deal.
Before Monday night’s events, Donaldson was believed to have secured a slender majority of party officers in favour of the deal. He made an impassioned speech in the House of Commons last week where he said he had received threats from opponents.
But it was not clear what impact Monday’s chaotic scenes would have. Bryson, who holds no elected position but is a staunch opponent of the post-Brexit trading regime, slammed what he called the “Surrender Deal”.
He said the details described by Donaldson did not meet the seven tests the party had set by which to judge any deal. These include scrapping the customs border in the Irish Sea imposed after Brexit.
Customs checks would be reduced, but would remain in place, he wrote, and said: “EU law will still apply.”
Brexit left Northern Ireland inside the EU’s single market for goods but the Windsor framework agreed between London and Brussels last year was intended to make trade flow more easily between the region and Britain.
