Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has insisted it was “clear” that a meeting he had with Sir Jeffrey Donaldson last year was to discuss the DUP leader rejoining his party.
Mr Beattie said he has texts of exchanges with Sir Jeffrey and added that he would act to protect his integrity if his version of events was challenged.
The DUP leader has denied claims that he considered joining the UUP after he lost out in an initial leadership battle with Edwin Poots last year.
Sir Jeffrey last week said he was approached by the UUP on the issue but insists he never had any intention of rejoining a party he left in 2003.
He has portrayed the exchange with the UUP as more of a conversation on achieving greater co-operation among unionists in Northern Ireland.
But Mr Beattie has now confirmed that he initiated the meeting last June and that it was organised to discuss Sir Jeffrey joining his party.
Speaking to reporters in Tandragee, Co Armagh, Mr Beattie said: “The invite was quite clear, the invite was that I would welcome him to have discussions with me about rejoining the Ulster Unionist Party. That’s what it was about.
“That’s what it was sent for and that’s why we organised a meeting to talk about that.
“I relayed that to my party chairman (Danny Kennedy) and we had that meeting. And it was a long meeting and we talked about it and we talked about all of the issues that we faced, but that’s what it was about.
“And it didn’t come to fruition because circumstances overtook us.”
Soon after the meeting took place, Sir Jeffrey became DUP leader following an internal party revolt against Mr Poots.
Mr Beattie said the meeting did not result in a definitive outcome on whether Sir Jeffrey intended to rejoin the UUP.
He also said the unexpected end of Mr Poots’ tenure as DUP leader meant the engagement with Sir Jeffrey went no further.
“Had he not become the leader of the DUP, I’ve got absolutely no idea where it would have went,” he added.
He said: “I had a long conversation. I have said this and I’ll be absolutely clear, at the end of that meeting, Sir Jeffrey, he did not say he would come to the Ulster Unionist Party, neither did he say he would not. So we left it.
“Circumstances meant we couldn’t meet again, because of personal circumstances that were ongoing at the time, and after that the wider circumstances in regards to the DUP overtook us, so we never had any further meeting and that was it.
“It’s right and proper that I explain to people that I did put an offer out. It was not a secret meeting, it was a private meeting.”
If somebody wants to challenge me on my integrity, then I will do everything I have to do to make sure people know that I am an open and honest politician
Asked whether he would publish text exchanges with Sir Jeffrey if his version of events was disputed, Mr Beattie said his integrity was important to him.
“If somebody wants to challenge me on my integrity, then I will do everything I have to do to make sure people know that I am an open and honest politician who’s standing here giving the version of the truth, which is the truth,” he said.
While he said he did not plan to publish the texts, he added: “But if people are going to challenge me, then I will do everything that I need to do to make sure that they understand that I’m an honest politician and I’m telling the truth.”
Meanwhile, DUP Economy Minister Gordon Lyons described talk of his party leader rejoining his former party was “tittle-tattle”.
Mr Lyons said he and other DUP members he had spoken to accept Sir Jeffrey’s insistence that he never had any intention of joining the Ulster Unionists.
“I don’t think that the public are interested in what happened a year ago or who said what, even now,” he told reporters in Belfast on Monday.
“They’re looking to the future. If you listen to what people are actually concerned about right now, it’s the future, it’s about cost of living, it’s about what comes next for them. That’s where our focus is right now as well.”
Asked if he had contacted Sir Jeffrey to seek assurances on the issue, Mr Lyons added: “No, I’ve had no need to raise those concerns.
“Jeffrey Donaldson set out his position and I can tell you speaking to other people in my party, they accept that as well and want us to actually focus on what comes next, rather than tittle-tattle from the last year.”
