OAN’s Jacob Miller
12:40 PM – Friday, March 29, 2024
A major sex scandal has devastated the government in Northern Ireland.
On Friday, the largest pro-Britain party in Northern Ireland announced that their leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, is stepping down from leadership.
This came shortly after police confirmed they arrested Donaldson and a 57-year-old woman on historical sex charges.
After the arrest, Donaldson deleted all of his social media accounts and The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) removed his image from their website.
Experts say that Donaldson’s resignation is sending the coalition government in Northern Ireland in a tailspin, as it just brokered a power sharing agreement last month after two years of gridlock.
“It’s a big shock on both sides of the Irish Sea, that’s for sure,” Jonathan Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool said. “Because Jeffrey Donaldson, although he already led a small party at Westminster with eight MPs, he was by far the most well-known of the DUP’s Westminster contingent. And of course, he led his party back into power sharing with Irish republicans at Stormont. Although he’d not taken his seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly, it was his decision, in fact, the deal to restore Stormont was got the label – the Donaldson deal.”
In the meantime, the four-parties sharing power in the executive government vowed to not let Donaldson’s scandal ruin their ability to get things done.
Donaldson is expected to appear in court on April 24th.
Some reports say the classification of the charges, and lack of detail on them, means they are too sensitive to discuss.
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