The Tories have been accused of at "behind closed doors stitch-up" after a senior Conservative MP held a string of secretive ‘briefing dinners’ on the Northern Ireland Brexit row.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, who sat on the board of the Vote Leave campaign held nine private dinners, funded by Tory donors and held between late January and early March - some on consecutive nights.
But the backbencher, who chairs Parliament's Liaison Committee, has refused to say who attended the behind-closed-doors sessions.
Three dinners were held in 'private residences', with the remainder held in Parliament.
And the almost £5,900 bill for food and wine at the soirées was picked up by a pair of donors, according to Parliament records.
Approached about the events, Mr Jenkin refused to say who attended the dinners because it would breach their confidentiality.
He said: "These briefings were about the problems arising from Northern Ireland Protocol."
The Protocol is the temporary mechanism designed to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The 310-mile frontier is the UK's only land border with the EU - and presented a seemingly impossible obstacle for Brexiteers.
Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain, said: "Businesses and consumers in Northern Ireland have been doing everything they can to make the Protocol work while some Parliamentarians in London are plotting over private dinners, and the lack of transparency surrounding these secretive “briefings” suggests a Government stitch up behind closed doors.
“A better use of their cronies’ cash would be to take a trip to Belfast to see for themselves the situation on the ground.”
Jon Moynihan, a Brexiteer who also sat on Vote Leave's board, paid £3,226 towards the events, according to Sir Bernard's register of interests.
And Adrian RB Johnson, an investment banker, paid for £2,637 worth of booze and food for the dinners.
Theresa May agreed to the temporary Northern Ireland Protocol, which effectively places a trade border in the Irish Sea, in the hope that a solution could be found to keep the UK as a single customs territory without endangering peace in Northern Ireland.
Mr Jenkin told the Mirror: "I am pleased to say that there are now many more MPs from across the Party who are much better informed about the Northern Ireland Protocol.
"We are working together to find a solution to restore the Good Friday Agreement, while also respecting the EU internal market, and underpinning the Union of the United Kingdom.”
In January, two days before the first event, Sir Bernard wrote on Twitter that the Northern Ireland Protocol could not be permanent - and was "not protecting the peace process, but destroying it."
And he has called for the protocol to be replaced with a system of "mutual enforcement" at the border, where the UK would guarantee there wouldn't be a "flood" of non-compliant goods crossing into the Republic of Ireland from the UK.
But it remains unclear how this would be enforced without additional border infrastructure.
Sir Bernard mentioned he was organising the dinners during a meeting of the Commons Standards committee on February 8.
But he told the committee the dinners were to discuss Britain's continuous at-sea deterrent.
He said: "There are entries going on the register. I am organising dinners about the continuous at-sea deterrent, and they are being funded by a Conservative donor.
"It is on the register. Even though I am just a pass-through, it is my dinner party where people are coming along and discussing the continuous at-sea deterrent, so it is on the register."
