Over-egged by some as his David Trimble moment, Jeffrey Donaldson’s speech delivered to a sparsely populated House of Commons last Wednesday provided the clearest signal yet that he was finally going to step forward and attempt to lead political unionism out of its self-imposed exile.

The tone and content of the DUP leader’s words clearly sought to put his opponents within unionism - including those in his own party - on the defensive. The move drew a warm response from a political class at Westminster which had almost given up on the prospect of the DUP leader acting in a manner befitting his status.

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Jeffrey’s difficulty will be in the fact this U-turn has not been preceded by preparatory statements and actions which would have helped those in support of his position to sell such a deal to a grassroots sold a fairy tale of seven tests needing met before they could live happily ever after.

The DUP’s reluctance to return to........

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