Chris Heaton-Harris says he is confident Donaldson can lead DUP back to Stormont

Mr Heaton-Harris also said he believed Sir Jeffrey was leading the party in a "strong and robust way". In an email to party members sent last weekend, Sir Jeffrey expressed frustrations after claiming the actions of some within the DUP ranks were damaging the party's electoral prospects and the cause of the Union. He said that those briefing against their own party were motivated by a desire to gain media coverage or advance their own personal agenda.

Mr Heaton-Harris has been in negotiations with the DUP to try to find a legislative solution that will assure Northern Ireland's place within the UK internal market. The DUP has been boycotting the powersharing institutions at Stormont for more than a year as a protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements, which it feels jeopardise Northern Ireland's position in the Union. Mr Heaton-Harris told the media in Belfast on Friday he had "every confidence" in Sir Jeffrey's ability to unite his party and bring it back to Stormont in the autumn.

He said: "I have every confidence that Jeffrey Donaldson is leading his party in a strong and robust way, and trying to make sure that, like all political leaders, that he brings his party together. That's a lot of work in any circumstances. And so yeah, absolutely." Mr Heaton-Harris added that political parties are "broad churches", and bringing a party together was a difficult task.

"On the Democratic Unionist Party, I was the chief of the Conservative Party in the last six months of a Boris government, I'm not going to comment on any other political party's interests," he said. "I just know that political parties are broad churches and it's very difficult for the leadership, for anyone, to keep every single member happy, but it's what leaders of political parties do." On Friday Mr Heaton-Harris met with the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Jayne Brady to discuss potential measures to raise more public revenue.