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DUBLIN — Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, resigned Friday after being charged by police with “non-recent sexual offences” — a political shock that could destabilize Northern Ireland’s just-revived government.
Donaldson, 61, was arrested Thursday and charged Thursday night. In a statement, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland arrested and charged a 61-year-old man for non-recent sexual offences.”
The DUP said in a statement that Donaldson had resigned as party leader “with immediate effect.” It said Donaldson had confirmed the charges against him in a letter to the party’s chairman. That ends his nearly three-year reign atop Northern Ireland’s main pro-British party.
The DUP’s deputy leader, East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson, has been appointed interim leader pending a potential leadership contest. A contest could reopen the DUP’s divisions over reviving Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government with Sinn Féin.
Only last month, Donaldson overcame internal opposition to restore the cross-community government at Stormont following a two-year shutdown in protest over post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland.
He ensured that his hand-picked choice, Emma Little-Pengelly, became the DUP’s deputy first minister in the revived administration, alongside Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill.
