DUP apology call for 'misleading electorate' over Sinn Féin talks

Lord Empey was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2005 to 2010

A former Ulster Unionist leader has called for the current DUP leader to apologise on behalf of his party after it emerged that the DUP had secret meetings with Sinn Féin.

Lord Empey said that, while Gavin Robinson was too young to be involved himself, his party "misled the electorate".

He said he had no issues with the meetings happening, rather the secret nature of them and the fact that they happened at a time when negotiations with Sinn Féin were against DUP policy.

Officially, the DUP has always maintained it never sat down with Sinn Féin until Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams met at Stormont in March 2007, shortly before the parties entered power-sharing.

It comes as the Rev Harold Good, an ex-Methodist Church president, recalled the secret talks took place in his home in a new book, In Good Time.

Rev Good said that the meetings were attended by Martin McGuinness and Jeffrey Donaldson. On Tuesday it emerged that East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson was also in attendance.

Wilson admitted he attended secret meetings with Sinn Féin, but said they were not negotiations.

Lord Empey (right), pictured here with David Trimble in 1999, said the UUP received significant abuse for meeting Sinn Féin

'Effectively deceived the electorate'

Lord Empey led the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) for five years, but stood down as party leader in 2010.

His party was publicly in talks with Sinn Féin, a move that was criticised by the DUP.

He described the abuse that he, David Trimble, and members of his party faced as a result as "significant".

Speaking to the Nolan Show on Tuesday, Empey said: “I have no issue with Sammy Wilson meeting Sinn Féin.

"The issue I have is with the fact that he is trying to make a distinction between talking and scoping issues with Sinn Féin, and negotiating with Sinn Féin.

"It’s the fact that his party lied."

Wilson has insisted his party does not need to apologise and has denied the party was dishonest.

However, Empey claimed that the DUP had "effectively deceived the electorate" by "saying one thing and doing another".

The DUP "put out statements and they had an election manifesto which they all stood on which said that they wouldn't be meeting with members of terror organisations," he said.

"I hope we can get this all out in the open," he added.

Then DUP leader The Reverend Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams speak to the media during a press conference in 2007

'We were told to lambast the UUP'

Former DUP MLA Jim Wells told BBC's the Nolan Show that other party members were "completely kept in the dark" about talks with Sinn Féin.

"Not once were we told there was to be any form of contact [with Sinn Féin] – neither talks, negotiations, any form of contact," Wells said.

"What’s even worse, we were told that the party line was to lambast the Ulster Unionist Party because they were openly in contact with Sinn Féin whilst we weren’t.

"Therefore I do on this occasion agree with Lord Reg Empey, he does deserve an apology," Wells added.

'Doesn't make your unionism weaker'

It comes after the son of a former member of the UUP, Roy Garland also criticised the party.

Richard Garland's columnist father Roy engaged with and met republicans around 1995 after the IRA ceasefire.

When a photo later appeared in the paper showing him shaking hands with then Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a sign was placed at the end of his street calling him a traitor.

Richard Garland told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme threats were made to his father's life from members of proscribed organisations.

"There’s no threat from talking to anybody in the name of trying to make peace and that’s what ultimately the DUP should have been prepared to be honest about," he said.

"There's nothing shameful, it doesn't make your unionism any weaker," he added.