Mr Campbell said that as one who has survived much worse than this verbal assault from Irish republicans his response is that his vitriol for fellow Unionists is contemptible.
The DUP MP said, “Elections are the essence of our democratic process, and they offer people a choice as to who will represent them. In Northern Ireland there is a clear choice between those who will take up their seats in our national Parliament and seek to make Northern Ireland work within the United Kingdom, and those who sit outside Parliament and work to weaken Northern Ireland.
Ben Habib will regularly point out the need to strengthen and secure Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom. That damage was inflicted by the Northern Ireland Protocol which we warned Mr Habib about, despite that he was in favour of it and voted for it. However, he is right that we should work to repair that damage. We are doing that while Ben complains about it. Such a task however is pointless if you are simultaneously working to weaken and degrade unionism from within.
His comments implicitly seek to remove pro-Union representation in Parliament. That is the very definition of a self-inflicted wound and one which can only benefit those who wish to see unionism divided and diminished.
As he offers to be the paymaster for unionist division in the TUV, we remain focused on moving Northern Ireland forward. Such attempts to deflect only highlight the absence of any strategy from those who pour such venom on the Democratic Unionist Party.”