Has DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson learned lessons from the UUP?

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson quit the UUP in 2003

Back in the day, the car park outside the Ulster Unionist Party's headquarters was the place to be.

Night after night the media camped out while David Trimble went head-to-head with Jeffrey Donaldson over control of unionism's biggest party.

At first, we were on the pavement but locals complained and so we were allowed inside. The party even supplied tea and biscuits.

Twenty years on, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is now unionism's top dog - led by a certain Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

And lessons appear to have been learned.

Trimble and Donaldson at the UUP's annual conference in 2000

Unfortunately, there is no car park at the DUP's headquarters. If it had, its unlikely we'd be allowed onto it.

However, there are some quite narrow footpaths and, on Thursday night, crews from the BBC and UTV stood on them to await the arrival of the party's 12-strong officer board.

Blame our presence on former leader Peter Robinson who injected some fevered interest into the "will they, won't they" debate currently circling around the DUP. As in, will they or won't they return to power-sharing government?

They may or may not - Sir Jeffrey hasn't yet closed a deal with the UK government that he feels is worth trying to sell to his 11 other officers, some of whom will be more difficult to impress than others.

Leaks and denials

But one thing is certain: they never showed up at DUP HQ on Thursday night.

Half an hour before the meeting was due to begin, it was moved - before any of the officers arrived.

It eventually took place at an unknown destination, which was apparently not far away.

The media went home. Why the party didn't want us to film arrivals is unclear.

Ex-DUP first minister Peter Robinson (right) recently commented that unionists need to recognise the DUP will not get everything it wants in negotiations with the government

We can shout questions but no-one has to answer them. Unless, that is, some close to the leadership could not be sure some wouldn't.

As to what happened when the meeting eventually took place, well, Sir Jeffrey appeared on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme on Friday saying negotiations go on but are not yet complete.

Asked about what a "senior source" from the DUP allegedly told Stephen Nolan on the party's seven tests for returning to Stormont being gone, Sir Jeffrey said: "That simply isn't true. I have no idea who this senior source is but they are clearly ill-informed and do not reflect the approach taken by the DUP leadership."

I received an unsolicited text from another party source this week.

It said: "Just to let you know all those leaks are incorrect on the Nolan Show. Things are happening and these leaks can stop progress."

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So, what are we to make of that and the slightly bizarre decision to move a meeting 20 minutes before it was due to start because the media was waiting outside?

Perhaps merely that the stakes are getting higher and Sir Jeffrey knows he has to proceed with caution.

After all, he knows only too well the dangers of a leader getting too far ahead of a section of his party.

He learned that 20-plus years ago when he was a member of a different party. One that no longer is of enough interest to journalists for them to spend long evenings outside trying to see in.