From 1982 to 1984, he was the
constituency agent for the UUP MP Enoch Powell, managing Powell's successful re-election campaigns in 1983 and 1986. In April 1986, Donaldson took part in a unionist demonstration attempting to blockade a conference of the
Ulster Teachers' Union held in
Newcastle, County Down, in protest at the
Anglo-Irish Agreement. In 1996, he was first-placed candidate on the UUP list for the
Northern Ireland Forum elections, virtually guaranteeing him a seat. Donaldson, by that time serving as Assistant Grand Master of the Orange Order, was a prominent figure in the ongoing
Drumcree conflict over an annual
loyalist parade in the town of
Portadown. He justified unionist demonstrators cutting off
Belfast International Airport by saying, "in a democracy people have the right to protest and unfortunately some people get inconvenienced." That led to his selection, in January 1997, as a candidate for the Westminster Parliament, and he was elected at the
1997 general election as the MP for the Lagan Valley constituency, succeeding James Molyneaux. At that time, he was tipped as a potential future leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Donaldson stated in
Richard English's book,
Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA, that because of a "deep sense of injustice that I felt had been perpetrated against my people and specifically against my family", he joined both the UDR and the UUP at the age of 18 to oppose the IRA both militarily and politically.
Role in the peace process In 1998, Donaldson was in the UUP's negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement. However, on the morning the day the agreement was concluded on 10 April 1998, Donaldson walked out of the delegation. Privately Donaldson came close to meeting a senior republican leader and kept alive contacts with the republican movement through third parties.
Dissent from the UUP 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
November 2003 Assembly election Donaldson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the UUP as an MLA for Lagan Valley. Following the success of the rival DUP in the same Assembly election of 2003, Donaldson reiterated his call for Trimble's immediate resignation, but the party continued to back Trimble. On 18 December 2003 Donaldson,
Norah Beare MLA and
Arlene Foster announced their resignation from the UUP, and on 5 January 2004 they announced that they had joined the DUP.
After joining the DUP Donaldson was returned to the House of Commons in the
2005 UK general election and, in 2007, he was appointed to the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom, entitling him to the honorific style of
The Right Honourable. In July 2009,
The Daily Telegraph reported that Donaldson had repaid £555 claimed for pay-to-view films in overnight hotel stays. In total, Donaldson submitted claim forms, including receipts, for 68 pay-to-view movies. The newspaper claimed "hotel sources confirmed that films he put on his expenses during 2004 and 2005 were in the highest price category offered to guests, covering the latest blockbusters and adult movies", although no evidence was offered and Donaldson issued an official statement denying watching any content of an adult or pornographic nature. Donaldson was appointed to government by
First Minister Peter Robinson, and held the position of Junior Minister in the
Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister from 2008 to 2009. Being also an MP, he lost his position due to the DUP's phasing out of "
double jobbing". Following his re-election to the House of Commons at the
general election in May 2010, Donaldson stood down from the Northern Ireland Assembly on 10 June, He was a member of the
Public Bill Committee for the
Defence Reform Act 2014.
DUP leadership , 7 February 2024 On 3 May 2021, exactly 100 years after Northern Ireland was effectively established, Donaldson declared his
candidacy for the leadership of the DUP to replace Arlene Foster. He lost the subsequent leadership election to
Edwin Poots MLA, by 19 votes to 17. Poots resigned after only 21 days as leader, having 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. The
Belfast Telegraph described the events as "one of the most tumultuous days in the DUP's 50-year history". On 21 June, Donaldson declared his
candidacy for the leadership of the DUP to replace Poots, pledging to make the Northern Ireland Protocol his main priority. He was the sole candidate. The party's electoral college endorsed him as leader-designate and he was confirmed in the post by the party's ruling executive on 30 June. In August 2021, UK Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson, appointed Donaldson as the UK's trade envoy to
Cameroon, in addition to his role as the trade envoy to
Egypt. 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 was not co-opted to a vacant seat in the time leading up to the election. Plans were drawn up to temporarily re-allow "double jobbing", which would have allowed Donaldson to be in the Assembly and remain an MP. However, these plans were dropped, so, if Donaldson were to become a member of the Assembly, he would cease to be an MP, triggering a by-election. Donaldson was elected to the Assembly in the May 2022 election, but declined to take up his seat, with the party instead co-opting
Emma Little-Pengelly. Donaldson said he would not take up his Assembly seat until the situation over the Northern Ireland Protocol was resolved. On 29 March 2024, Donaldson resigned as DUP leader after being charged with rape and other historical sexual allegations, which he said he would "strenuously contest".
Views Donaldson opposed the Good Friday Agreement. He supported
Brexit, but called for the Northern Ireland Protocol agreement between the UK and the EU in December 2020, which establishes a customs and regulatory border in the
Irish Sea separating Northern Ireland from Great Britain, to be reformed or revoked. Despite his earlier rejection of the Good Friday Agreement, he stated in January 2021 that the Protocol "actually undermines the Good Friday agreement". In 2009, Donaldson was accused of making
anti-Catholic comments.
Social Democratic and Labour Party deputy leader
Alasdair McDonnell demanded an apology from Donaldson and a retraction of his claim that Catholics owed allegiance in the first instance to the
Pope and the
Holy See. In March 2019, Donaldson was one of 21 MPs who voted against LGBT-inclusive sex and relationship education in English schools. He opposes
same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, legalised by the British Government in December 2019. ==Personal life==