Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has resigned as chief of the Democratic Unionist social gathering after being charged with sexual offences, throwing Northern Irish politics into turmoil.
At an emergency assembly, the social gathering suspended the membership of Donaldson – who’s to seem in court docket subsequent month – and appointed its deputy chief, Gavin Robinson, as interim chief.
A DUP assertion stated: “The social gathering chairman has obtained a letter from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP confirming that he has been charged with allegations of an historic nature and indicating that he’s stepping down as chief of the Democratic Unionist social gathering with speedy impact.
“In accordance with the social gathering guidelines, the social gathering officers have suspended Mr Donaldson from membership, pending the result of a judicial course of.”
The Lagan Valley MP, 61, deleted his X, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts and the social gathering eliminated his picture from its web site.
Police issued an announcement saying a 61-year-old man had been charged on Thursday with “non-recent sexual offences” and {that a} 57-year-old lady had been charged with aiding and abetting extra offences. They’re to seem earlier than Newry magistrates court docket in County Down on 24 April.
The abrupt finish of Donaldson’s management shocked Northern Eire and can jolt the British and Irish governments.
Robinson stated he and different social gathering leaders realized of the fees on Thursday evening. “It’s been a devastating revelation and has triggered large shock,” he instructed Sky Information.
“However we’re a celebration and people that imagine in justice. We think about our prison justice system. And so within the coming days and months, I believe it’s essential that none of us say something or act in any approach that will search to prejudice what’s now an ongoing prison investigation.”
Donaldson had served three years as DUP chief and lately bolstered his authority by agreeing a take care of Downing Avenue that revived the Stormont government and meeting. He had been anticipated to guide his social gathering into the overall election.
The Ulster Unionist social gathering chief, Doug Beattie, stated: “Though the circumstances are of concern and within the public curiosity, we’re aware that that is now a prison investigation.”
Donaldson, who was knighted by the late queen in 2016, stays an MP however will probably be underneath strain to step down, creating a possible byelection headache for the DUP which might threat it shedding Lagan Valley to Alliance, in keeping with Jon Tonge, a College of Liverpool politics professor and co-author of a ebook on the DUP.
The social gathering was prone to make Robinson, a Donaldson ally who supported Stormont’s restoration, the everlasting chief though his Belfast East seat was additionally underneath risk, stated Tonge.
As a Westminster MP Donaldson holds no put up within the Northern Eire government, which is led by Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister and the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly as deputy first minister.
His departure was prone to rattle however not collapse Stormont, stated Tonge. “It provides to the precariousness as a result of the architect of the deal is now out of the political sport. However the DUP is aware of it may very well be disastrous to drag out.”
Donaldson had a popularity as a unionist hardliner and soft-spoken pragmatist, which earned grudging respect in London, Dublin and Washington. Born right into a Presbyterian household within the County Down fishing village of Kilkeel, he served within the Ulster Defence Regiment and have become a full-time political activist from the age of 18.
Within the Nineteen Eighties he ran the constituency workplace of Enoch Powell, the previous Conservative MP who had defected to the Ulster Unionist social gathering (UUP), after which labored for the then UUP chief, James Molyneaux.
In 1997 Donaldson, a married father of two and socially conservative Orange Order member, inherited Molyneaux’s seat in Lagan Valley, simply outdoors Belfast, and had held it since. He opposed the 1998 Good Friday settlement, seeing it as a sellout to the IRA, and in 2004 joined the DUP.
Polished media performances softened Donaldson’s picture and he supported the DUP’s eventual acceptance of the Good Friday settlement. He additionally backed the social gathering’s help for Brexit.
Controversy about buying and selling preparations between Northern Eire and Nice Britain fractured the social gathering and toppled two leaders, Arlene Foster and Edwin Poots, in 2021, leaving Donaldson to fill the vacuum.
He withdrew the DUP from power-sharing in 2022, collapsing Stormont. Critics accused him of destabilising Northern Eire however the transfer rallied the social gathering’s base and persuaded London to melt the Irish Sea border, resulting in Stormont’s revival in February.