'I will not be bullied or sidelined': Jonathan Buckley claims dirty tricks campaign after Unionist unity call

Writing exclusively for the News Letter on Saturday, the DUP’s Jonathan Buckley called for the leaders of all three main unionist parties to get around a table and formally negotiate a unity plan.

He wants them to hammer out “a long-term strategy to rebuild unionist political and electoral strength” as well as protect Northern Ireland’s constitutional position against a nationalism “galvanised” by the Drumcree dispute.

He now says he’s been attacked and abused over his call, branded a lightweight and a plotter – but he defiantly stated he “will not be bullied or sidelined”.

In a statement posted to social media, Mr Buckley said he’d been “greatly, greatly encouraged” by the response of grassroots unionists to his unity idea.

People who “want us to put our country first, ahead of individual or party interests” have been enthused by the idea of the DUP, UUP and TUV coming together with a shared strategy, he stated.

But he said there has already been an attempt by what he described as “detractors of unionism” to “rip this unity proposal apart”.

“It is clear that certain individuals want to destroy unionist unity quickly,” he stated.

“They’ve branded me a lightweight. They’ve said I’m plotting. They’ve even attempted to drag my family into this. All dirty tricks and utter rubbish.

"This is not about division for me. This is not about internal manoeuvres. This is about bringing our community together, this is a once in a generation opportunity.”

Adding that he isn’t trying to provoke any confrontations with other unionist parties or the wider community, he claimed he is “being attacked” for advancing a move he believes could strengthen the political movement as a whole.

"Rest assured, I will not be bullied or sidelined,” he stated.

“[The protestant, unionist and loyalist community is] my people. They are the community I come from, the people I stand alongside and those whose future I care deeply about.

“I am holding the hand of friendship out to all unionists and I am determined to see this happen.”

He also encourage members of the public who back the unity idea to make their voices heard by contacting politicians, stating: “Don’t stand back and let others determine its future.

“We cannot change the past, but we can help shape the future.”

Mr Buckley’s call got a somewhat suspicious eye from the TUV, however, its leader Jim Allister arguing that there’s no point in unity if it only achieves things he believes are bad for the union, pointing to power-sharing with Sinn Fein and the sea border caused by the NI Protocol as two examples.

He accused the call of being a message that Michell O’Neill must stay as first minister dressed up in “the appealing garb of unionist unity”.

Said Mr Allister: “[It] may be thought clever, though not so subtle.

“The DUP showing unity with Carla Lockhart MP over Drumcree would have been a good start.

“Unity would be great, but to do what? Keep Sinn Fein in power and continue to implement the union-dismantling Protocol? I detect no dilution of the DUP’s disastrous platform on these issues.”

Adding that unity “has to be more than a soundbite” and “requires substance”, he said: “The TUV has never shied away from meaningful unity; indeed, when I proposed a unity platform for the last Westminster election, it was rejected out of hand by the DUP leadership.

"The unity I’m interested in is not about saving any party. It would be about maximising unionist representation on a platform which advances, not undermines, unionist principles.

“Moreover, unity shouldn’t be used as a distraction tactic when fearing the loss of an MP because you have chosen unity with Sinn Fein over a party colleague.”

Reaction from political opponents has so far been muted. Publicly, at least, neither Sinn Fein nor the SDLP have had much to say on Mr Buckley’s move, and the same is true of Alliance – all of the parties broadly, it seemed today, content to let the debate play out within unionism.