AN appearance by the DUP’s Gavin Robinson on RTE news has gone viral after the East Belfast MP appeared to be left momentarily startled by the line of questioning.
Listing the party’s recent record on Brexit, news presenter David McCullagh said: “You backed Brexit, which made the border an issue again; you rejected Theresa May’s deal, which kept Northern Ireland in the same customs territory as Great Britain; you backed Boris Johnson, who agreed a border down the Irish Sea; and now Edwin Poots is in effect claiming that international agreements, signed by the UK Government, don’t apply to Northern Ireland.”
Mr McCullagh, a former RTÉ political correspondent, then asked: “Are you working for the other guys?”
The clip, which had been viewed around half a million times on Twitter over the weekend, prompted thousands of responses.
Poor big Gavin. He looks like he's been hit on the head with a hammer. https://t.co/EfmpOdKkpB
— Jake O'Kane (@JakeOKane) February 5, 2022
Comedian and Irish News columnist Jake O’Kane quipped that the DUP man had been left to look “like he's been hit on the head with a hammer”, while Queen’s University professor Peter Doran said the MP looked like he had “aged visibly by the time this interview concluded”.
The clip was also shared widely across Britain, with former BBC Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler suggesting it was RTE trying “to find out what the DUP strategy on Brexit might be”.