Leaks, tweets and cries of deceit - but a deal was done

It was nearly 1am when Sir Jeffrey Donaldson emerged from a five-hour meeting of his party executive to confirm he was leading the DUP back into power-sharing government after no less than 726 days.

It was a moment for those who claimed he lacked political courage to perhaps think again.

However, while this was a triumph for the DUP leader's negotiating skills both with his party and Westminster, it may yet come at a price for the former Ulster Unionist MP.

The remote Larchfield Estate was used for the party's executive meeting to strike a deal. It was chosen for its security. Those attending weren't even given the location until three hours before it started.

But what greeted Sir Jeffrey and others will have been familiar to many DUP politicians of a certain age: Crowds singing Loyalist songs, Union flags on poles and cries of "sell out".

This time, however, it was all directed inwards.

It was the beginning of a very uncomfortable night.

Among those outside was Mel Lucas, a former DUP Assembly candidate who long ago deserted the party for the TUV.

And of a much more recent vintage David Clarke, a former DUP councillor who quit the party recently claiming held been the victim of bullying.

Having failed to secure the venue from the outside, worse was to come for it soon become clear it wasn't secure on the inside either.

No sooner had Sir Jeffrey got to his feet, the loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson began tweeting out proceedings in what he called a "blow by blow account".

When the news got back to the leadership, Mr Bryson wrote: "Meeting now halted. Anger that meeting is being live tweeted."

Later he told us "DUP meeting descends into mayhem".

Then, strangest of all: "One DUP delegate accuses PSNI officers of being the leak."

You couldn't make it up as they say.

When asked whether police were trying to block phone signals at the meeting, a spokesperson said: "The Police Service of Northern Ireland has no involvement in this."

In his 40th tweet of the night, Mr Bryson wrote: "Is tonight delivering a serious blow to the supposed deal?"

As a gaggle of press stood inside a distillery near Ballynahinch, waiting for hours for Mr Donaldson to arrive with news, Mr Bryson's question loomed ever louder.

It was half past midnight before he got there.

Speaking to confirm he had carried the vote, he admitted to being "disappointed" and even to a sense of "betrayal" - although he said some of what was reported was not reflective of what had happened.

It's not so much the protestors at the gates that will have worried him. He is no stranger to such things.

It's the enemy on the inside and the leak ruthlessly capitalised on by Mr Bryson.

Still, Sir Jeffrey emerged triumphant from one of his most difficult days in politics.

It remains to be seen how reconciled many in his party will be to a deal they had fought to defeat.

After all, he better than anyone knows what it is like to oppose an embattled party leader from his days in the Ulster Unionist party.

You couldn't help but wonder what his once arch nemesis Lord Trimble, so often the target of DUP protests, would have made of it.

Twitter, or X, didn't exist 25 years ago. If it had the Good Friday Agreement may never have been signed.