Jeffrey Donaldson's life in politics: From DUP leader to convicted child sex abuser

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's political career is a tale of two Good Fridays – the first a pivotal turning point, the second a shocking end.

It was in 1998, the day the peace deal - the Good Friday Agreement - was signed, bringing an end to decades of conflict in Northern Ireland, that he walked out of talks over the decision of his Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to support it.

The dramatic move was uncharacteristic in a political life that usually avoided drama. But it did set him on a path that would see him go from being a thorn in the side of the UUP leadership, to becoming a party leader himself - but for the rival Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) after his defection to them in 2003.

Fast forward 26 years later, Good Friday 2024, and DUP leader Donaldson is charged with sexual abuse. He resigns as leader and then has his membership suspended by the party.

On Monday, Donaldson was found guilty of all 18 sex abuse charges he faced, including rape.

A few short weeks before being arrested and charged, he had been in Washington DC for St Patrick's Day celebrations, lauded as the man of the moment after getting his party to return to power-sharing government at Stormont.

It was deemed the pinnacle of his decades-long career.

Just weeks later, that career lay in tatters.

Donaldson's beginnings

His time in politics may have ended in the DUP, but it began in 1985 when he was elected for the UUP to represent the South Down constituency in the 1980s iteration of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Before his election, he had worked for South Down MP Enoch Powell who had joined the Ulster Unionists from the Conservatives in the 1970s.

In 1997, when his boss James Molyneaux retired as the Lagan Valley MP, Donaldson retained the seat comfortably for the UUP.

But his unhappiness with the party became obvious as political negotiations at Stormont moved towards the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

He became one of the UUP's biggest critics of the deal over issues like the IRA's decommissioning of weapons, warning his leader David Trimble against supporting it.

Even after the agreement, and the first power-sharing government was formed in its wake, he continued to pose problems for the party and supported failed bids by others to oust Trimble from office.

In 2003, he quit and defected to the DUP.

Later that same year, the DUP replaced the UUP as the biggest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly. It has remained the biggest party in unionism ever since.

Donaldson quickly rose through the DUP's ranks, no longer a politician of protest but a key figure in the party's chain of command, developing a reputation as a strong media performer and policymaker.

Parliamentary personality

Donaldson was an MP for 27 years. It was in early 2024 that he gave a rousing speech to the Commons that some even regarded as the speech of his life.

Just weeks before he did the deal to lead his party back into power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, he revealed in Westminster that he had been facing threats and hit out at "stirring up" from those opposed to his efforts.

It was a passionate moment in an otherwise less colourful Parliamentary career, which a former UUP director of communications said was characterised by his knowledge of "how to play the game in Westminster".

"You may not always have known where he stood on an issue or how hard he would fight for it," said Alex Kane, who worked at the Northern Ireland Assembly between 1999 and 2010.

"But he was affable and always willing to listen and go and have uncomfortable conversations."

Another key parliamentary moment came in 2017, when the DUP, with Donaldson as its chief whip, signed a confidence-and-supply deal to prop up Theresa May's Conservative minority government in 2017.

The DUP's Westminster votes were crucial to keeping May in government after she lost her parliamentary majority in the general election later that year, but much changed when Boris Johnson entered Downing Street.

The DUP hope that he would deliver an agreement for unionists appeared misguided, with their MPs unable to persuade him to scrap the Irish Sea border.

They were accused of wasting their influence over the government, which then disappeared entirely once Boris Johnson won a snap general election in December 2019.

From chief whip to DUP leader

The majority of his years in the DUP were smooth compared to the UUP spats that prompted his departure.

But, in 2021, Donaldson was thrust into his own battle for the soul of the DUP, after Arlene Foster was unexpectedly ousted as leader.

He went head-to-head with Edwin Poots for the top job, with Donaldson losing by two votes.

The result sparked a major split in the party with some pro-Donaldson councillors quitting in protest.

He presented himself as a unifying figure and second time around he was unopposed and unanimously supported by the party's ruling executive.

Leadership lessons

His first test of leadership came just months later.

Under growing pressure from unionist rivals over new post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, Donaldson warned in September 2021 he could withdraw his party from power-sharing government unless the UK and EU met some of its demands.

Critics and sceptics derided the DUP leader as issuing a hollow warning, but he followed through on the threat six months later.

It quelled pressure from some of his unionist rivals and, as a political strategy to buy time, it paid off.

Donaldson also came in for personal criticism.

After promising he would leave his MP role and return to the assembly, he instead co-opted Emma Little-Pengelly into his seat in Lagan Valley, saying his work in Westminster was not finished.

A critical moment

Donaldson continued to press the government on the party's demands for post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland.

However, as Northern Ireland staggered on without a power-sharing government, that October Donaldson began to make positive noises about the importance of devolution - a sign of where he saw the party ultimately returning.

It would take three more months before the deal was done, putting his political skills under the microscope like never before.

Pressure was everywhere – from political parties who wanted to see the DUP back in government; grassroots loyalists who were urging the DUP to "stand firm"; and from unionist rivals sceptical of what the DUP leader claimed to have negotiated.

With the deal done and his party back in Stormont, the final victory lap saw Donaldson in Washington DC for St Patrick's Day, a leader liberated after two turbulent years.

What happened weeks later would plunge his party back into a period of unprecedented turbulence.

DUP dismay

In the immediate aftermath of Donaldson's arrest and charges, shellshocked DUP members and senior leaders had to manage his suspension, while also processing the accusations against a man many had regarded as a close colleague and friend.

Months later the party also had to fight a general election campaign, selling the deal Donaldson had helped to create.

The party's new leader, Gavin Robinson, who had been a confidante of Donaldson, chose his language carefully, saying there should have been more "cautious realism" about promoting the deal.

The DUP lost three seats in the 2024 General Election. Many in the party pointed to Donaldson's fall from grace undoubtedly having an impact when it came to knocking doors in the lead-up to polling day.

Now, the DUP has until 2027 before the next assembly election is due, so there is still time to recover.

But the spectre of his demise will continue to haunt the party he once led.