“Catastrophic Series Of Events!” Donaldson Steps Down As DUP Leader Amid ‘Historical’ Charges

leader of the democratic unionist party Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has stepped down from his position with immediate effect Donaldson has written a letter to the party chairman confirming that he has been charged with allegations of an historical sexual offense well we can speak now to talk to the chief political commentator Peter Cardwell Peter those of us who are sort of news hind heard murmurings of this a couple of hours ago when it started breaking on social media and in WhatsApp groups what can you tell us at this stage this is an absolutely catastrophic uh series of events for the Democratic unionist party for uh politics in Northern Ireland and of course for Jeffrey Donaldson personally uh he's been an MP for Lagan Valley since the uh for for the dup uh since he left the UL unionist party in the early 2000s and of course he has now been charged with these offenses so we need to be careful about what we say about their historic uh sexual offenses we know that what we also know is that he has no longer leader of the democratic unionist party his Deputy Gavin Robinson who's also a member of parliament is now the leader uh certainly there has been uh a lot of uh intimidation threats uh opposition to Jeffrey Donaldson for a number of uh months now because of his decision with the w after the winter framework that deal on European on the European Union to go forward and to go back into uh devolved government Northern Ireland which was suspended for two years and the will of course be some sort of uh speculation at least although we must be careful because this is now a matter which has been charged uh in regard to the origins of this but of course the psni the Police Service of Northern Ireland will have gathered their evidence this is a political disaster for the DP Jeffrey Donaldson is someone who has taken a huge leap of faith to go into devolved government with Shen F uh for the last 25 years since the bast agreement there has been all sorts of off onag Devolution within Northern Ireland but Jeffrey Donaldson who was an also as previously part of David trimble's Party Walked Out on the eve of the signing of the 1998 Belfast agreement and then eventually joined the Democratic unionist party of which he became leader a few years ago after Arling Foster uh this is a a real shock a real shock in regard to UK politics and Northern Ireland politics itself he is someone who is has been seen as having a lot of Integrity previously but of course his reputation even though he is charged and is innocent on still proven guilty if indeed he is his reputation is certainly uh is certainly gone it'll be interesting as well in terms of when a a byelection Could Happen his party the dup are under a lot of pressure in his constituency of Lagan Valley in Northern Ireland which is just outside Belfast the main city is lisburn within that constituency and certainly when a byelection would be held if he is the stand D NP which I presume he will but that is that's not assured what we know is that he's suspended as a member of the dup and that he stood down as leader so we will see what happens in the next uh part of in the next part of this because it's not going to go away huge speculation in terms of what will happen now uh Peter uh obviously Sir Jeffrey is uh innocent until proved guilty he's been charged uh we don't even actually know if he denies the charges because we haven't got enough information yet but I think we can probably assume that he does what will the dup how will the dup navigate this very very difficult situation how will deal with it how will they portray it to the people they're a very split party uh by themselves they're very split and uh this was very much in evidence over the decision to go back into government with Shin F previously there was a man called Edwin puts who's now actually the speaker of the northern arand assembly who was very briefly uh for I think 21 or 22 days the leader of the dup that fell apart but there's a Hardline element and then there's a more liberal element within the dup and Jeffrey Donaldson was the leader of that he's tried to unite his party well we've seen other figures like Sammy Wilson new uh stranger to this session to talk TV he is the was the dup's chief web and a long serving MP for E an he stood down as Chief web so there is real consternation within the dup and their it MPS but also their members of the assembly in Belfast so this is very very difficult for them they're very split as a party Gavin Robinson who is the Deputy leader who's now the acting leader I'd be very surprised if he ends up as the leader of the dup but certainly rich sheak spent a lot of time trying to get the Devol government back in Northern Ireland sorting out the uh tail end of brexit what he would he would see the Windsor framework as as a mechanism to certainly solve the problems of brexit in the in the UK and all specifically Northern lots of people will disagree with that and will say that that's not the case but there was basically parliamentary consensus when the winter framework went through only 29 MPS voting against it including the dup although many more obained so the dup has split it is in real difficulty anyway and Jeffrey Donaldson largely from London as its leader there rather rather than in in Northern Ireland lead was leader there of course as well of the whole party nonetheless was in a situation where he was holding together a very very fragile Coalition within the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland which had seen its position Fall Away to being the second largest party so previously uh dup leaders like Ian Pasley like Peter Robinson and arene Foster had been the first minister of nor Ireland but because the D and that kind of mandatory Coalition was the uh second largest party ended up as uh the with the deputy first Minister post and Jeffrey dson didn't take that he's given it to a woman called Emma little peny who H continues in that role but it's a very very difficult time for the dup they are in crisis we also know this morning that Jeffrey Donaldson's social media accounts have been deleted uh so there will be lots of speculation about this charge we need to be careful about it he is innocent uh until proven guilty but the fact that he has been arrested and someone so high profile has been arrested and indeed charged with something so controversial uh will have been uh you know the the Police Service in Northern Ireland will have taken their time would have made sure that they are absolutely sure that there are grounds at least for him to be arrested and the fact that it has happened now after Devolution has been restored is probably interesting too yeah Peter thank you ever so much we're still of course joined by former labor adviser Matthew L I mean Matthew it's when you put this in context with everything that Northern Ireland's been through over the past few years that putting aside Party politics and the difficulties the dup faces it's a very fragile agreement there absolutely we've only just been able to get Hollywood back up and running yes Jeffrey Donald didn't stor sorry too much too much Hollywood normally in the news we only just a to get storm back up and running um uh we know that Jeffrey Donson isn't uh the deputy first Bo you first Minister there but uh this this is going to have a big impact isn't it on Northern Irish politics I mean and rather cynically I suppose Shin faine might be thinking well this is great yeah I think what it will do as Peter excellent analysis there said is it's very very destabilizing for the dup under this system um uh where uh the two if st's going to sit and the assembly is going to sit and the executiv is going to function you have to have uh the largest unionist party and the largest nationalist party which was for you know until this time was uh unionist largest and then the nationalists and now it's the other way around so um the dup got the depuy's first Minister's job um uh they have to remain in now uh Jeffrey Donaldson was the uh leader as it were of the more moderate faction in the DU in the dup who wanted to uh go back into the assembly and the executive and get it restarted and now that he is out of the picture if we put it like that then that I think will shift the balance of power within that make the uh I don't think we're going to see the gup leave the executive immediately but I think if any you know there were always shocks in Northern Island politics something comes along uh which shakes things up I think it more make much more fragile for the dup to stay in that so what we know about Jeffrey Donson as a guy you know what kind of a guy is he he's married is he he's got kids what do we know about this so he's married with two kids as I understand it I mean he's um you know he's a very if I can put it a very sort of typical Northern Island unionist politician you know terrified yeah vaguely ter terrified didn't he Ser in the military at one point I think he might well have done but but he in the dup I me as Peter was saying he came from the ster unionist which were the dominant Force Under The Late David Trimble who um got got the peace process going so he was he was in the um dup imp Paisley's party to remind people who might not have Northern Ireland Poli left FR of their mind and then what they've moved is they've expanded as the as the uh as unionists have shrunk and shrunk he jump Shi very early uh uh uh when just after the um the Good Friday agreement but he was very much seen as on the moderate ring of that party on the more establishment ring of that party he came from the El unionist rather than from the Pais like church lifelong politician or does he have a career I I think I think he was in the military he certainly been around politics for a very long time amiable does he get on with people I think that he I think I mean I think that he is not seen as the most relaxed figure in Northern iseland politics if I can put it like that um uh but he's seen as a serious figure uh who doesn't who I mean sometimes there's a bit of bombast in Northern iseland politics you know people we forget here in the rest of the UK um with our kind of two three two and a bit party system you've got a system in in in Northern Ireland with five or six parties every show like this in Northern Ireland has has to have a much wi longer desk um Etc and so grand stand and I think Jeffrey Donson was seen as a serious figure who um was prepared to work so I think this will be a big big blow to the moderates within the dup I was going to ask you does he have any enemies but he's in Northern Ireland so course he well he has a lot of enemies within his own party because the hardcore there's a small party called the traditional unionist Voice who are chipping in from that side into the dup's vote and then on the other side the alliance party which is the cross community party which takes votes from both Protestants and Catholics has been on the rise particularly amongst the middle classes uh in in Northern isand who basically want to anend sort of sectarianism um in their political choices so the dup is under a lot of pressure and obviously we have a general election in Northern Ireland just as we will in the rest of the UK at sometime in the next nine months

Channel: TalkTV

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Keywords: debate, free speech, freedom of expression, live, live news, news, politics, talk radio, talk radio live, talk radio tv, talk tv, talk tv live, talkTV, talkradio, talkradio tv, talkradiotv, talktv live, uk, dup, Democratic Unionist Party, northern ireland, stormont, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, jeffrey donaldson

Id: BDyq3IzOZr4

Length: 10min 26sec (626 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2024