The East Londonderry MP was said to have caused "uproar" when he spoke at a 40th anniversary conference for the Northern Ireland civil rights movement.

Backlash

He suffered a vigorous backlash in Londonderry's Guildhall on Saturday when he spoke of the poverty and intimidation he and his family suffered growing up as Protestants in Londonderry.

He also told the audience how he was refused a job in the city because of his religion and how discrimination by law continues today against Protestants in Northern Ireland.

"It was certainly the most lively part of the day," said Mr Campbell, who is also Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.

"I held up a letter for everyone to see from the Housing Executive in 1978 which told me I had qualified for a job and that I would be put on the reserve register to be called when a position opened.

Discrimination

"But that was at the time that discrimination against Protestants in the Housing Executive was beginning and I told the audience that the job never came – because I was a Protestant.

"Austin Currie (a former SDLP MP] then asked me if I should not have joined the civil rights movement.

"But I responded that 40 years ago there was not the wide range of anti-discrimination legislation and commissions to stop discrimination on grounds of race or religion.

"And yet now we have discrimination against people on grounds of their religion set down in law in Northern Ireland.

"I pointed at the audience and said that their community never suffered discrimination by statutory provision the way Protestants are now discriminated against when trying to join the police. There was uproar in the hall. Even Mark Durkan did not contradict me, but calm was eventually restored."

PSNI slammed

Mr Campbell said that many suitably qualified Protestants are today refused jobs in the PSNI under the 50:50 rule because they can only be employed if there are equal numbers of suitably qualified Catholics applying to join.

His view now is that equality legislation means nationalists "are more likely to be successful at becoming police officers than unionists are at becoming housing officers".

Reflecting on the 1960s in Londonderry, Mr Campbell told the News Letter he was raised in York Street in the Waterside in a rented two-up-two-down terrace which only had an outside toilet, a 'scullery' for a kitchen and no central heating.

As a typical young unionist lad, he said he attended technical college and then started work in a shop.

Intimidated

"I used to go to the Brandywell quite regularly until I got physically intimidated at several games. Other friends suffered likewise," he said.

"I can recall that during August 1969, cousins of my mother who lived in Windmill Terrace near the Bogside arrived to stay with us. I, as a teenager, was unsure what was happening.

"I remember my cousins recounting people arriving at their door and informing them in no uncertain terms they would be better off leaving the area."