Paisley: I've met Trump in nine of the last 10 years

The North Antrim MP hailed Mr Trump’s success as a “revolutionary change”.

He told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme: “This is about the little guy biting back and he bit back with a vengeance.”

Mr Paisley, who as a Stormont junior minister in 2007 attempted to get Mr Trump to build a golf course and make other business moves into the Province, said that the President elect “knows Northern Ireland”.

“I first met Donald Trump, along with my father, in 2006 and I’ve kept that relationship going. I’ve met him every year bar one since then; I’ve had his family in Northern Ireland twice; my family have been with his family in the US on at least one occasion...”

When asked who the real Donald Trump is, Mr Paisley said: “Most people see that the bark is worse than the bite – I think we’ve seen that in the victory speech and in the way in which he has conceded things and talked about unity and putting aside all the rhetoric of the campaign.”

The DUP man said it was “very important that we now build a relationship” with him.