The Lagan Valley MP left the Ulster Unionist Party in opposition to the Good Friday Agreement
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is the longest-serving MP from Northern Ireland and has led the DUP since June 2021.
In a statement the party said: "The Party Chairman has received a letter from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP confirming that he has been charged with allegations of an historical nature and indicating that he is stepping down as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party with immediate effect. In 1996 he was the first-placed candidate on the UUP list for the Northern Ireland Forum elections, virtually guaranteeing him a seat. Donaldson, by this time serving as Assistant Grand Master of the Orange Order, was a prominent figure in the ongoing Drumcree conflict over a yearly loyalist parade in the town of Portadown.
Jeffrey Donaldson engineered several party council meetings in protest against David Trimble's policies. The council, however, backed Trimble's leadership, and on 23 June 2003, along with fellow MPs David Burnside and Martin Smyth, Donaldson resigned the Ulster Unionist whip at Westminster. The MPs remained party members and in the November 2003 Assembly election, Donaldson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the UUP as an MLA for Lagan Valley.
In a statement to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Donaldson said he had not watched anything adult or pornographic. “Such material was not viewed on the date alleged, or at all.” On 17 June, Poots resigned after only 21 days in post. Poots had faced an internal revolt against his decision to proceed without delay to nominate Paul Givan as First Minister after Sinn Féin had reached an agreement with the Westminster government about an Irish Language Act.
It was announced on 24 August 2021, that Donaldson was planning to stand as a candidate for Lagan Valley in the Assembly election the following year if he is unable to get co-opted to a vacant seat in the time leading up to the election.
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