DUP leader Donaldson uses weekly newsletter to hit out at members attempts to gain media attention

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has used a DUP weekly newsletter to hit out at party members who he says have been 'manufacturing' attacks on the party.

However, Sir Jeffrey's words and how they have been sent to members have surprised some in the party who have described it as an 'unusual way to communicate' issues within the party.

In an email sent to DUP members on Saturday, first reported by the Belfast Telegraph and confirmed by UTV, Sir Jeffrey wrote: "It is a point of great frustration when I read a fellow unionist manufacturing an attack on his party or other unionists.

"I use the term 'manufacture' as the attack will lack substance and be driven more by an effort to gain media coverage or advance their personal agenda... "Sadly, this applies to some within our own ranks who brief against their own party and damage our electoral prospects and the cause of the Union.'

The DUP leader's article focuses on his endeavour to improve relationships across unionist parties and how he has spent his time as party leader working on building bridges.

Divisions within the DUP have been well documented in recent years after the ousting of Arlene Foster as leader and the short period of Edwin Poots taking over the job. It has become clear that divisions still exist with a hardline view in the party over a return to Stormont, while there are those who would be prepared to go back sooner rather than later. It is evident Sir Jeffrey is attempting to stand up to those who are 'briefing' against him. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has told his party he is continuing to work over the summer to get a 'solution to the Northern Ireland Protocol and to ensure that when the next Westminster election arrives, we are not working against each other...' His words hint at electoral damage if the party does not rally together. The DUP is having ongoing discussions with the Government about what the party would need to return to Stormont.

There is a widely held view that there is a short window for this to be resolved in the Autumn and that at some point in the next few months Sir Jeffrey Donaldson will have a big decision to make.

He will need all sides of the party to support whatever he decides.

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