DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson MP and UVF mouthpiece Jamie Bryson #VoteJeffreyGetJamie
26 October, 2022 03:00
Speaking to BBC Good Morning Ulster, Sir Jeffrey was asked if he considered Mr Bryson an adviser or even a friend.
"The only advisers I have are within the Democratic Unionist Party....I wouldn't call Jamie Bryson anything other than what Jamie Bryson is," he said.
"He runs a blog, he runs an online pro-union website and he takes a similar position as we do in opposition to the protocol."
Asked if he had regular conversations or meetings with him, he said: "I think I've had two meetings with Jamie Bryson in the last year."
He added: "The BBC is consistently pushing this line that I don't make my own mind up and that the DUP doesn't have its own strategy. so let me nail that once and for all.
"The history is there to prove this. Last September, I set out the actions of the DUP would take. Those actions were decided by my party collectively and we have followed through on those actions.
"We cooperate with others who are in opposition to the Protocol including the other unionist parties...I was meeting some of the other unionist representatives yesterday.
"So, let's be absolutely clear. I take my own counsel, my party has its own decision making processes and that's what determines our strategy, and our approach to all of these things."
In August, Sir Jeffrey penned a foreward for Mr Bryson's book about the Northern Ireland Protocol.
He has also appeared alongside Mr Bryson as well as other unionist leaders at anti-protocol rally events.
On the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr Bryson had commented on Twitter that: "No unionist will ever trust a Conservative."
Sir Jeffrey did not confirm that he trusted Mr Sunak, commenting: "We trust ourselves....as far as trust, we trust the actions that we have taken because we believe this is what is necessary to bring this matter to a head and to get an outcome on the protocol.
"I will work with the prime minister, I will do so in a pragmatic way. It will not be based solely on trust, it will be based on the need to get this done. The sooner the better.
"We've had delay after delay. We've had prevarication, we've had promises that have not been delivered and in all the mean time, political stability in Northern Ireland is not there."
With many thanks to the: Irish News and Allan Preston for the original story.
Follow these links to find out more on this story: IF Carlsberg done the protocol protests they probably wouldn't ask the PSNI if loyalist paramilitaries had been involved
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