The DUP has been hit by a fresh crisis as a Stormont politician last night resigned from the party saying he sees no “respect, discipline or decency” in its recent behaviour.
Announcing he was quitting after 21 years of DUP membership, North Down MLA Alex Easton said: “I am at the end of my tether with U-turns and reaction politics”.
He revealed he had been deeply distressed by bitter internal divisions for which he equally blamed elements of both Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s and Edwin Poots’ camps.
Five councillors have quit the troubled party in recent weeks, but Mr Easton is the first Assembly member to leave. The MLA, who topped the poll in North Down in the last Assembly election and is his party’s former Westminster candidate, will now sit as an independent unionist.
His resignation came as Sir Jeffrey was ratified as DUP leader by the party executive. However, Mr Easton said the timing was coincidental and he wished the Lagan Valley MP well.
New DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson with MLA William Irwin outside La Mon hotel after he was ratified as leader by the party’s executive last night. Credit: Liam McBurney/PA
New DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson with MLA William Irwin outside La Mon hotel after he was ratified as leader by the party’s executive last night. Credit: Liam McBurney/PA
He accused the Government of “destroying the DUP” with the Northern Ireland Protocol. Calling for unionist parties to urgently unite, he said Northern Ireland’s constitutional position was under grave threat.
In a statement to the Belfast Telegraph, he said: “It is with great sadness and hurt that I find myself doing one of the hardest things in my life and resigning from the DUP.
“I have had to stand back and watch as colleagues tear themselves apart, brief against other colleagues and run to the media in order to hurt each other on a daily basis. There is no respect, discipline or decency, I have just had enough.
“This is not something that I want to be a part of as a unionist – it is not Alex Easton. No matter who people supported during the recent leadership contest, I find elements from both sides are equally to blame for recent events, and it continues”.
In a clear rebuke of how the party treats its MLAs, Mr Easton said: “I have given 21 years of my life to the DUP, sometimes to the detriment of my health and well-being. It has been extremely lonely at times for me, and few have cared how I have felt.”
The North Down politician accused all unionist parties of failing their voters. “Unionism is in my heart and soul, and I crave unity for the unionist community. I am not getting this from any of the unionist parties or their leaders at present. The Union is slowly being eroded from beneath our feet.
“We have a Westminster government who are destroying the DUP – through their actions over the head of unionism and with their implementation of the protocol. I look to the east across the Irish Sea every morning and see a British Government that don’t show any care, love or affection for the unionist people or our cause of keeping this country together.
“They have sold our birthright from under us with the Protocol, they just don’t understand us. They will do anything it takes to appease the republican movement.”
Mr Easton claimed that the IRA Army Council “are the real people who run Sinn Fein, not the front of Michelle O’Neill and others that we see on our TVs”, a claim denied by the party.
He rounded on the Irish Government for being “hell-bent on causing division with careless words, actions, talk of border polls and plans for a united Ireland”.
The North Down MLA wished Sir Jeffrey “good luck and every blessing going forward” as DUP leader, but said he was extremely worried by unionist disunity.
“All I can see are the various strands of unionism, tearing themselves apart, time after time, and allowing our opponents to keep chipping away towards their goal of a border poll. I would like to see a positive and proactive unionism, not a reactive and submissive unionism,” he said.
“The challenge for the new leader of the DUP, and for Doug Beattie, Jim Allister and Billy Hutchinson, is to come together under a united unionist banner and provide proper leadership, putting egos aside for the good of the Union before it is too late.”
Mr Easton warned of an increasing danger that unionists “lose the Union by default” if their representatives failed to unite.
“The protocol has damaged our businesses, trade, and even our ability to bring our pets across the Irish Sea. With unnecessary border infrastructure, checks and bureaucracy, they are destroying our union,” he said.
Mr Easton added: “I know there will be consequences for my actions, but I am not interested in attacking the DUP or briefing against my former colleagues.
"I hope that they feel the same way about me and won’t try to discredit me. I am only interested in working on the ground for all of my constituents across North Down.”
The MLA said he would “work positively” to strengthen unionism with “all who are willing to work towards these goals, including my former party if they are willing to do so”.
Mr Easton resigned as the DUP’s 130-strong executive met in a hotel on the outskirts of Belfast to ratify Sir Jeffrey as its leader.
He had secured the vote of 32 of the 36 MLAs and MPs in the party’s electoral college last Saturday.
Sir Jeffrey becomes the fifth leader of his party, succeeding Mr Poots who survived only 21 days in the job.
Speaking afterwards, Sir Jeffrey said he had been humbled to receive the unanimous backing of the party executive, and that he and Mr Poots had spoken and recognise “the hurt that’s been caused”.
“What we’ve seen tonight, as we did last Saturday, was our party coming together, healing, uniting and looking to the future, drawing a line under what’s happened in the past,” he said.
He said he was “confident the party will now build towards Assembly elections” and he would be hitting the ground running this morning.
He said the party has been “overcoming difficulties”, but that when their “backs are against the wall, the party is at its best”.
