Who is Sir Jeffrey Donaldson? MP charged with historical sex offences
SIR Jeffrey Donaldson is stepping down leader of the DUP.
The MP, 61, was suspended from the Democratic Unionist Party pending the outcome of a criminal investigation.
It comes after PSNI confirmed a 61-year-old man had been charged with “non-recent sexual offences”.
A 57-year-old woman has also been charged with aiding and abetting in connection with the alleged offences.
The pair were both held on Thursday and are due to appear at Newry Magistrates’ Court on April 24.
Who is Jeffrey Donaldson?
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is the longest-serving MP in Northern Ireland after he was first elected in 1997.
Before working in politics, Sir Jeffrey followed his family by becoming a member of the Orange Order, and later followed in the footsteps of his late dad Jim by joining the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).
He spoke out about how the Troubles affected his family after his cousin Samuel Donaldson became the first police officer to be blown up by the IRA in the conflict.
He kicked off his 40-year political career as a constituency agent for the South Down MP Enoch Powell in the mid-1980s.
He went on to work as a personal assistant to the former Ulster Unionist Party leader James Molyneaux.
In 1997, after Mr Molyneaux retired, he succeeded him to take the Lagan Valley seat.
In 2003, amid his opposition to the Good Friday Agreement and the leadership of David Trimble, he left the UUP and signed up with the DUP alongside Arlene Foster.
Sir Jeffrey was appointed to the Privy Council, an advisory body to the Royal Family, in 2007.
His leadership saw him steer the party’s two-year boycott of Northern Ireland’s political institutions in protest over post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Sir Jeffrey was recognised by the Queen in her 2016 Birthday Honours and was given a knighthood.
Just weeks ago he made the decision to bring the party back to powersharing in Northern Ireland.
After protracted negotiations, the DUP agreed to return to Stormont in February following the agreement of a new deal and a series assurances around Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the UK.