Jeffrey Donaldson

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Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish former politician, who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2021 to 2024 and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons from 2019 to 2024. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley from 1997 to 2024.

Donaldson was a member of the Orange Order and served in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) during the Troubles. He was also the campaign manager for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP Enoch Powell's successful re-election campaigns in 1983 and 1986. He was the UUP candidate for Lagan Valley at the 1997 general election, and was elected as an MP to the House of Commons. He simultaneously represented the same constituency as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2003 to 2010. Donaldson is known for his opposition to UUP leader David Trimble's support of the Good Friday Agreement during the Northern Ireland peace process, especially from 1998 to 2003.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-22-donaldson-only-candidate" /> In 2003, Donaldson resigned from the UUP, becoming a member of the DUP in the following year.

Donaldson served in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2008 to 2009 as a Junior Minister for First Minister Peter Robinson. After Nigel Dodds lost his seat at the 2019 general election, Donaldson became the DUP Westminster leader. He was a candidate in the May 2021 DUP leadership election, losing to Edwin Poots.<ref name="btel-2021-05-03-dinaldson enters race" /> After Poots resigned the following month, Donaldson was elected unopposed to succeed Poots in the June DUP leadership election; he was confirmed in the post by the party's ruling executive on 30 June.<ref name="Ratified">Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2022, the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to DUP protests against the Northern Ireland Protocol.<ref name=independent-resigns>Template:Cite news</ref> Donaldson was once again elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2022 Assembly election, but he subsequently chose to remain as a Westminster MP, with Emma Little-Pengelly instead taking his seat.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Donaldson opposed the Windsor Framework announced by the Sunak government in February 2023 and, for 22 months, Donaldson refused to nominate a deputy First Minister to restore Stormont.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In February 2024, the Northern Ireland Executive was restored after a deal was agreed by Donaldson with Sunak's government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2024, he stepped down as leader of the DUP, having been charged with rape and historical sexual offences, triggering a leadership election.<ref name="BBC quits"/><ref name="RTE">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The party also suspended his membership.<ref name="IrishTimes">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="DUP statement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Donaldson said that he would strenuously contest the criminal charges.<ref name="BBC quits"/> In May 2024, Donaldson's solicitor confirmed that he was not intending to stand for re-election at the 2024 general election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early lifeEdit

Donaldson was born in Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland, and was the oldest of five boys and three girls.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-22-who-is-dup-new-leader"/> He attended Kilkeel High School, where he excelled at debating,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> then Castlereagh College. At the age of sixteen he joined the Orange Order, and then the UUP's Young Unionists.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-22-who-is-dup-new-leader" /><ref name="donaldson-autobiog" />

Two of Donaldson's cousins were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) while serving in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC): Sam Donaldson was killed in 1970<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Alex Donaldson, a Chief Inspector, died in a mortar attack on a Newry police station in 1985.<ref name="donaldson-autobiog">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Donaldson served with the Kilkeel company of the 3rd Battalion UDR (3 UDR),<ref name="donaldson-autobiog" />Template:Dead link and was promoted to corporal.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-21-donaldson-confirms-bid" />

Donaldson worked as an insurance broker in the 1980s.<ref>Sunday Tribune, 11 October 1987.</ref>

Political careerEdit

From 1982 to 1984, he was the constituency agent for the UUP MP Enoch Powell,<ref name="bbc-2021-06-22-who-is-dup-new-leader">Template:Cite news</ref> managing Powell's successful re-election campaigns in 1983 and 1986.<ref name="donaldson-autobiog" /> He then worked as personal assistant to the UUP leader James Molyneaux until Molyneaux retired from politics in 1997.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-22-donaldson-only-candidate" />

Entering politicsEdit

In October 1985, at the age of 22, following the death of Raymond McCullough, Donaldson was elected with a large majority in a by-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent South Down.<ref name="18iu85">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In April 1986, Donaldson took part in a unionist demonstration attempting to blockade a conference of the Ulster Teachers' Union held in Newcastle, County Down, in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement.<ref name="18iu85"/> Demonstrators blocked teachers' cars and scuffled with the police; at one point protestors broke through police lines and attacked Education Minister Brian Mawhinney's car with flag poles. After further violence, arrests were made. Donaldson told reporters afterward: "What we're saying to Brian Mawhinney here today is that he may think that he is an Ulsterman but the people of Ulster want no part of a man who has betrayed the people of Ulster." Mawhinney labelled the protestors "thugs".<ref name="18iu85"/> In June that year, after Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, ordered the dissolution the Assembly, Donaldson was one of 21 unionist representatives who refused to leave the chamber at Stormont and was eventually physically removed from the building by the RUC.<ref name="24iu86">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1996, he was first-placed candidate on the UUP list for the Northern Ireland Forum elections, virtually guaranteeing him a seat. Donaldson, by that time serving as Assistant Grand Master of the Orange Order, was a prominent figure in the ongoing Drumcree conflict over a yearly loyalist parade in the town of Portadown. He justified unionist demonstrators cutting off Belfast International Airport by saying, "in a democracy people have the right to protest and unfortunately some people get inconvenienced."<ref>"Protest takes on surreal holiday camp atmosphere",Sunday Tribune, 10 July 1996.</ref> That led to his selection, in January 1997, as a candidate for the Westminster Parliament, and he was elected at the 1997 general election as the MP for the Lagan Valley constituency, succeeding James Molyneaux. At that time, he was tipped as a potential future leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Donaldson stated in Richard English's book, Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA, that because of a "deep sense of injustice that I felt had been perpetrated against my people and specifically against my family", he joined both the UDR and the UUP at the age of 18 to oppose the IRA both militarily and politically.<ref>English, Richard. (2003) Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA, Oxford University Press, USA, p.373</ref>

Role in the peace processEdit

In 1998, Donaldson was in the UUP's negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, on the morning the day the agreement was concluded on 10 April 1998, Donaldson walked out of the delegation.<ref name="bbc-2003-12-18-donaldson-depart" /> He rejected some of the arrangements, notably the lack of a link between Sinn Féin's admittance to government and IRA decommissioning.<ref name="bbc-2003-12-18-donaldson-depart">Template:Cite news</ref> Privately Donaldson came close to meeting a senior republican leader and kept alive contacts with the republican movement through third parties.<ref>Sam McBride, 'Jeffrey Donaldson had secret backchannel to Sinn Féin in 2001 which could have "devastated" his political career'. Belfast Telegraph, 24 March 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025</ref>

Dissent from the UUPEdit

Donaldson engineered several party council meetings in protest against David Trimble's policies. The council, however, backed Trimble's leadership, and on 23 June 2003, along with fellow MPs David Burnside and Martin Smyth, Donaldson resigned the Ulster Unionist whip at Westminster.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The MPs remained party members and in November 2003 Assembly election Donaldson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the UUP as an MLA for Lagan Valley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Following the success of the rival DUP in the same Assembly election of 2003, Donaldson reiterated his call for Trimble's immediate resignation,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but the party continued to back Trimble. On 18 December 2003 Donaldson, Norah Beare MLA and Arlene Foster announced their resignation from the UUP,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and on 5 January 2004 they announced that they had joined the DUP.<ref name="bbc-2003-12-18-donaldson-depart" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After joining the DUPEdit

Donaldson was returned to the House of Commons in the 2005 UK general election and, in 2007, he was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, entitling him to the honorific style of The Right Honourable.<ref name="donaldson-autobiog" /> At the March 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was re-elected as an MLA for Lagan Valley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In July 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported that Donaldson had repaid £555 claimed for pay-to-view films in overnight hotel stays. In total, Donaldson submitted claim forms, including receipts, for 68 pay-to-view movies. The newspaper claimed "hotel sources confirmed that films he put on his expenses during 2004 and 2005 were in the highest price category offered to guests, covering the latest blockbusters and adult movies", although no evidence was offered and Donaldson issued an official statement denying watching any content of an adult or pornographic nature.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Donaldson was appointed to government by First Minister Peter Robinson, and held the position of Junior Minister in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister from 2008 to 2009. Being also an MP, he lost his position due to the DUP's phasing out of "double jobbing".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following his re-election to the House of Commons at the general election in May 2010, Donaldson stood down from the Northern Ireland Assembly on 10 June,<ref name="bbc-2010-06-16-new-dup-mp" /> and was replaced on 16 June by Paul Givan.<ref name="bbc-2010-06-16-new-dup-mp">Template:Cite news</ref>

He was a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DUP leadershipEdit

File:Prime Minister's Questions, 7 February 2024 09.jpg

Donaldson speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, 7 February 2024

On 3 May 2021, exactly 100 years after Northern Ireland was effectively established,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Donaldson declared his candidacy for the leadership of the DUP to replace Arlene Foster.<ref name="btel-2021-05-03-dinaldson enters race">Template:Cite news</ref> He lost the subsequent leadership election to Edwin Poots MLA, by 19 votes to 17.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Poots resigned after only 21 days as leader, having faced an internal revolt against his decision to proceed without delay to nominate Paul Givan as First Minister, after Sinn Féin had reached an agreement with the Westminster government about an Irish Language Act.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-17-poots-resigns">Template:Cite news</ref> The Belfast Telegraph described the events as "one of the most tumultuous days in the DUP's 50-year history".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 21 June, Donaldson declared his candidacy for the leadership of the DUP to replace Poots,<ref name="bbc-2021-06-21-donaldson-confirms-bid">Template:Cite news</ref> pledging to make the Northern Ireland Protocol his main priority.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the sole candidate.<ref name="bbc-2021-06-22-donaldson-only-candidate">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The party's electoral college endorsed him as leader-designate and he was confirmed in the post by the party's ruling executive on 30 June.<ref name="Ratified"/>

In July 2021, Donaldson said in a UTV interview that he intended to resign his seat as a Westminster MP and become Northern Ireland First Minister before the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, but also said that he did not yet know precisely how he would bring that about.<ref name=IrishNews2021-07-06-01a>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2021, UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, appointed Donaldson as the UK's trade envoy to Cameroon, in addition to his role as the trade envoy to Egypt.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

It was announced on 24 August 2021, that Donaldson was planning to stand as a candidate for Lagan Valley in the Assembly election the following year if he was not co-opted to a vacant seat in the time leading up to the election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Plans were drawn up to temporarily re-allow "double jobbing", which would have allowed Donaldson to be in the Assembly and remain an MP. However, these plans were dropped, so, if Donaldson were to become a member of the Assembly, he would cease to be an MP, triggering a by-election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Donaldson was elected to the Assembly in the May 2022 election, but declined to take up his seat, with the party instead co-opting Emma Little-Pengelly. Donaldson said he would not take up his Assembly seat until the situation over the Northern Ireland Protocol was resolved.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 29 March 2024, Donaldson resigned as DUP leader after being charged with rape and other historical sexual allegations, which he said he would "strenuously contest".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BBC quits"/> Due to the ongoing case, John McBurney, Donaldson's solicitor, confirmed in May 2024 that Donaldson would not be contesting the July 2024 general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ViewsEdit

Donaldson opposed the Good Friday Agreement.<ref name="the-conversation-2021-05-11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He supported Brexit, but called for the Northern Ireland Protocol agreement between the UK and the EU in December 2020, which establishes a customs and regulatory border in the Irish Sea separating Northern Ireland from Great Britain, to be reformed or revoked.<ref name="the-conversation-2021-05-11" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite his earlier rejection of the Good Friday Agreement, he stated in January 2021 that the Protocol "actually undermines the Good Friday agreement".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2009, Donaldson was accused of making anti-Catholic comments. Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell demanded an apology from Donaldson and a retraction of his claim that Catholics owed allegiance in the first instance to the Pope and the Holy See.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2019, Donaldson was one of 21 MPs who voted against LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in English schools.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He opposes same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, legalised by the British Government in December 2019.<ref name="the-conversation-2021-05-11" />

Personal lifeEdit

On 26 June 1987, Donaldson married Eleanor Cousins, with whom he has two daughters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

He is a member of the mainstream Presbyterian Church in Ireland.<ref name="donaldson-autobiog" /><ref name="the-conversation-2021-05-11" />

Speaking of his national identity, Donaldson says that he is "Irish and British, Northern Irish and British, and British." He noted that he was a member of the Irish Presbyterian church, which is organised on an all-Ireland basis. He described his national identity as geographically Irish, but also as being "part of a wider group of nations that is British". He believes that there is no contradiction in identifying as Irish, Northern Irish and British.<ref name="auto" />

Sexual offence allegationsEdit

Arrest and chargeEdit

On 28 March 2024, Donaldson was arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and charged with rape and a number of other sexual offences.<ref name="BBC quits">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His wife also faced aiding-and-abetting charges related to the same matter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The following day he stood down as leader of the DUP. The Orange Order<ref name="resigns BT">Template:Cite news</ref> and the DUP suspended his memberships in March 2024 pending the outcome of the judicial process, as required by their rules.<ref name="BBC quits"/><ref name="DUP statement" /><ref name="IrishTimes"/> Donaldson said that he would contest the charges.<ref name="BBC quits" /><ref name="RTE" />

As Donaldson and his wife are co-defendants they were initially bailed to separate properties, and thus she returned to their marital home in Dromore while he flew to London to reside in a flat in Greenwich.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In response to what it deemed "unhelpful speculation" by some members of the public and media outlets (in regards to his legal issues being used to influence his decision to restore the Executive in January 2024), the PSNI released a statement clarifying that they first received a complaint that resulted in Donaldson's arrest in early March 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 7 April 2024, the Irish Independent newspaper reported that allegations had been made to police as early as January 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Donaldson is charged with 11 offences relating to two complainants. They are: one count of rape allegedly committed between 1985 and 1991, one count of gross indecency towards a child allegedly committed in 2005 or 2006, and nine counts of indecent assault against a female, allegedly committed between 1985 and 2006.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His wife Eleanor is charged with two counts of cruelty to a person under 16 years old, one count of aiding and abetting rape, and one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault on a female. Her charges also relate to two complainants and are alleged to have occurred between 1985 and 2004.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Pre-trial proceedingsEdit

On 24 April 2024, Donaldson and his wife appeared before Newry Magistrates' Court to confirm that they understood the charges against them. They were given bail of £350 each and the no-contact was lifted.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 3 July 2024, Donaldson and his wife again appeared before Newry Magistrates' Court, where prosecution lawyers asserted that there was a prima facie case to answer and both defendants had failed to offer any contrary submissions. Donaldson and his wife then confirmed they understood the charges against them and both declined to make any verbal or written statements in relation to the charges. The court heard that Jeffrey Donaldson was now accused of 18 charges in total (increased from 11 charges): one charge of rape, four of gross indecency and 13 charges of indecent assault. His wife's charges were also increased from four to five, specifically that she aided and abetted her husband in connection with the allegations he faced. Both defendants were then released on continuing bail to be arraigned on 10 September 2024 at Newry Crown Court.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 10 September 2024, Donaldson and his wife both entered not guilty pleas to all charges during an arraignment hearing at Newry Crown Court.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Their joint trial was set for 24 March 2025 and is expected to last for two weeks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 21 February 2025, Eleanor Donaldson applied to have two charges against her, one of aiding and abetting her husband along with a separate charge of child neglect, withdrawn during an in camera no-bill application hearing at Newry Crown Court. After a video recording of the Achieving Best Evidence police interview with one of the complainants was played to the court, legal arguments from the prosecution and defense teams were submitted to Judge Paul Ramsey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, on 28 February 2025 Judge Ramsey rejected the application and ruled that Eleanor Donaldson would face trial on all five charges. In light of the ruling, Mrs Donaldson's legal team, led by Ian Turkington KC, informed the court that she would be pleading not guilty to the two charges.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 14 March 2025, it was announced that Eleanor Donaldson was unfit to stand trial due to a medical issue and Judge Paul Ramsey granted an adjournment application, with a review to be held on 16 May 2025 regarding a new scheduled start date for the Donaldsons' joint trial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A new start date of 3 November 2025 was later listed for the trial, with an assessment regarding Eleanor Donaldson's fitness to stand trial expected to take place by mid-July 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

HonoursEdit

Donaldson was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2007. That entitles him to the honorific style "The Right Honourable" for life.

In the 2016 Birthday Honours, he was appointed Knight Bachelor for political service.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Maiden Speech: House of Commons – 20 May 1997
Appearances on C-SPAN (As UUP member)
Appearances on C-SPAN (As DUP member)

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