Jeffrey Donaldson: Northern Ireland unionist leader resigns after being accused of sexual abuse

The historic leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland, Jeffrey Donaldson, presented his resignation to the party’s leadership this Friday “with immediate effect”, after “confirming that he has been accused formally of crimes of a historical nature.” Quite a euphemism to hide an extremely delicate and serious matter. Throughout the morning, the Irish and Northern Irish media had reported the arrest of a 61-year-old man “for sexual crimes of a historical nature” – that is, committed in the past – and of a 57-year-old woman, “for complicity in the commission of these crimes,” according to a statement from the Police of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The connection was obvious, but Irish legislation demands maximum respect for the identity of victims of crimes against sexual freedom, and for hours, newspapers and television gave maximum status to information that was so confusing and limited in details.

Until the DUP itself confirmed in a statement that it was breaking ties with Donaldson. “In accordance with the Party Statutes, the leadership has suspended Mr. Donaldson as a member, pending the outcome of the judicial process,” the text says. “MP Gavin Robinson has been elected interim leader of the party,” they added.

The first court hearing of the case has already been set for April 24, in the courts of Newry (Northern Ireland). The two people – a man and a woman – whom the PSNI mentioned as unidentified had remained under arrest for several hours and were being questioned by the officers handling the case.

Throughout Friday morning, Donaldson’s social media accounts on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Linkedin have disappeared. It has been another way of keeping alive in the Irish media an issue of extreme importance that his teams of legal advisors did not know how to sink their teeth into.

The key man of Brexit

Donaldson led the revolt of Northern Irish unionists against the treaty that sought to fit this territory into the post-Brexit era. The so-called Irish Protocol, which kept Northern Ireland within the EU customs space, was considered by the most extremists a new betrayal by London. The DUP kept the autonomous government institutions – Stormont Parliament and Executive – blocked for two years, which, due to the imposition of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the region in 1998, must always be shared in their management and distribution of power between republicans and unionists.

It was, however, Donaldson himself who negotiated and agreed at the end of January, with Rishi Sunak’s British Government, to end the blockade, which allowed her to hold the position of Prime Minister of Northern Ireland for the first time in history. a leader of Sinn Féin, Michelle O’Neill. The party that for years was considered the political arm of the terrorist organization IRA had won the 2022 regional elections, and was awarded the first position in the Northern Irish Executive (something more symbolic than anything else, since power is shared with the deputy prime minister , which corresponded to the DUP).

The recently removed leader also occupies a seat in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, and if the accusations are confirmed it is virtually certain that he will also lose that seat.

He entered Parliament in 1997, as a representative of the Ulster Unionist Party, but his opposition to the Good Friday Agreement pitted him against the party’s then leader, David Trimble. Donaldson made the jump to the DUP, much more radical in its unionist approach, and managed to win its leadership in 2021. In 2016 he even received the honorary title of “sir”.

In his youth he was part of the Ulster Defense Regiment, an infantry unit of the British Army. He belongs to the Orange Order – famous for its provocative parades each year, which stir up the Catholic population – and came to work for the xenophobic conservative leader Enoch Powell, who ended up joining the ranks of Northern Irish unionism.