Jeffrey Donaldson, the erstwhile leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), first stepped into the political landscape of Northern Ireland almost four decades back and has led his party from 2021. He stepped down as leader following accusations of a historical nature. He hails from the fishing town of Kilkeel, Co Down, and his political consciousness was sparked from a tender age, partly due to the tragic murder of his cousin, Samuel Donaldson, in 1970, one of the initial policemen to fall in the Troubles.
Donaldson is the eldest amongst eight siblings. He became affiliated with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Orange Order, triumphing his inaugural election in 1985 to gain membership to the Northern Ireland Assembly at the age of 22. During this period, he was a personal aide to the head of UUP, James Molyneaux and served as the electoral agent for MP Enoch Powell from 1983-1985.
In 1997, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley, a position he has maintained to date, making him the longest-serving incumbent Member of Parliament in Northern Ireland, albeit not for the same party.
He developed disagreements with UUP’s leader, David Trimble, during the peace negotiations that culminated in the 1998 Belfast Agreement over police reforms and IRA disarmament, leading to a dramatic withdrawal from the peace dialogue. The discord was never mended, and he defected to the DUP in cooperation with Arlene Foster six years afterwards, a catalyst in expanding the support base for Ian Paisley’s radical fundamentalist party.
He continued to serve as the representative of Lagan Valley in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont from 2003-2010, in addition to retaining his Lagan Valley position at the Westminster. Whilst he holds socially conservative views, opposing the legalisation of abortion and same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, he is perceived as part of the DUP’s more moderate faction.
A professed Presbyterian, Donaldson acknowledges his Christian faith as a pivotal element in steering him through the political turbulence. In June 2021, he assumed the leadership of DUP after his predecessor, Edwin Poots, who had triumphed over him for the leadership just three weeks earlier, stepped down.
Donaldson, as the party leader, led the party’s campaign against the Northern Ireland protocol, a post-Brexit trade agreement that was vehemently rejected by unionists who felt it compromised their identity as an essential component of the UK. The abrupt departure of the then DUP first minister, Paul Givan, in February 2022, put an end to the Executive. This, coupled with the party’s rejection to name a successor after the Assembly elections in May the same year, resulted in a two-year absence of a government in the North.
Despite internal opposition from his party members and unionist grassroots, Donaldson masterly navigated his party back into administration in January. His resolute justification of this move in the Northern media earned him widespread recognition, with many viewing his fiery speech in the House of Commons as the pinnacle of his career.
Opposing his earlier declaration that he would abandon Westminster to embrace the Deputy First Minister role in a re-established Assembly, he elected to maintain his position in the Commons. In February 2024, he assigned his Lagan Valley constituency colleague, Emma Little-Pengelly, the position.
After his knighthood in 2016, as part of the Queen’s birthday honours list, Donaldson savoured his MP role. He was considered as a potential nominee for the House of Lords, but that was until his suspension from the party.