Who knew what about Jeffrey Donaldson?

It’s now been ten days since former UDR member, member of the Orange Order, MP, Knight of the Real., Privy Councillor, prominent UUP member and DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was found guilty of i8 historical sexual accusations. What we know for sure is this, Donaldson is a sexual predator, a convicted rapist and a paedophile. We know this to be true because he’s currently in custody awaiting sentencing for his heinous crimes so I’d like to leave these crimes to the side for one moment and take a different direction.

In Brian’s OP the day Donaldson was found guilty I made the following observation:

Another disturbing aspect of this is how some within the DUP apparently knew he was a very different person from his public persona away from the public gaze. Surely this posed questions to answer?, and I suspect that we haven’t heard the last of such questions.

The extent of Donaldson’s double life was exposed by the BBC’s Spotlight programme last week, (thanks to Slugger those of us residing outside the State were able to watch it) and a number of incidents were explored:

Excessive Drinking and Alcohol Misconduct

Despite long maintaining a public profile of being a strict, religious teetotaler, prominent party colleagues came forward on the program to expose his excessive drinking habits while traveling. One senior RUC member witnessed Donaldson in Westminster drinking from one of the two bottles of wine he had in each hand. The same cop later said he later witnessed Donaldson in an noticeably inebriated state with each of his arms around two young women

Visits to a Gay Sauna

Tim Hanley, the former head of the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch and another detective witnessed Donaldson enter a very prominent gay sauna in the City of Westminster marketed as a meeting place for gay men in 2006. In in the same year Donaldson told the Northern Ireland Assembly that “Judaism, Islam and Christianity all teach that homosexual practice is sinful. Donaldson and the DUP have also consistently aggressively opposed LGBTQ+ rights

Sexual Pestering and Inappropriate Advances

Spotlight exposed claims that Donaldson used his political travels to make unwanted physical advances toward women. One on occasion during a political trip to New York, Donaldson reportedly became heavily intoxicated and attempted to force a kiss onto a female DUP Assembly Member. The programme also revealed that prior to Donaldson being elected as leader of the DUP a young woman had approached a senior DUP member stating she had been “exploited” and sexually pestered by Donaldson and that Donaldson had a number of extra marital affairs.

People in the public eye very often have a different private persona than in public and (perhaps with the exception of ‘exploitation and sexual pestering), none of these incidents above are illegal but they are certainly inappropriate and in light of the DUP’s clean cut and morally upright image they are absolutely hypocritical. In that context was it appropriate for this man to run and subsequently be elected as leader of a party with such stringent policies on sexuality? The question must be asked: who knew and what did they know?

Edwin Poots clearly knew at least some of the allegations Ian Paisley Jr knew of allegations and of Donaldson’s double life It’s pretty conceivable to think that Donaldson’s Westminster parliamentary colleagues were aware of this behaviour. Former DUP member and long serving MLA Jim Wells was aware of Donaldson’s behaviour Did long term Donaldson friend and colleague, from both the UUP and DUP, Baroness Arlene Foster, know of his behaviour?

How widespread was this knowledge within the wider DUP?

I’d also bet the mortgage that if former RUC Special Branch members and PSNI members seconded to MI5 knew of Donaldson’s proclivities then you can put the pan on for the domestic spook agency knowing about them as well.

In such circumstances should such contrary activities to their public persona not have said something about the personality of the person and should that behaviour then have been swept under the carpet and the person then be elected as leader?

One of the incidents that absolutely astonished me was Ian Paisley Jr’s admission that on a trade mission to China Donaldson was so utterly inebriated that he ‘projectile vomited’ over the Mayor of Beijing. It’s absolutely incredible that such an incident was kept quiet.

Can you imagine the reaction had Michelle O’Neill, Caire Hanna or Naoimi Longe boked over the Mayor of Beijing?

In this context an internal DUP investigation isn’t sufficiently credible to establish the facts and bring answers,

And Slugger doesn’t escape criticism from this.

In the aftermath of the Michael McMonagle references incident there were, to my memory, no less than six separate OPs on the incident.

To my knowledge, ten days after Donaldson’s conviction and almost a week after the Spotlight programme this is the first such OP on a similar scandal within the DUP. While I realise that everyone here is a volunteer and has other things and responsibilities in their lives it’s a pretty stark contrast that someone found the time to do six OPs on McMonagle yet completely ignored Donaldson.