Politics

Donaldson faces daunting list of challenges at helm of DUP

The protocol will dog him, and his party and wider unionism are in bad need of new ideas

Jeffrey Donaldson speaks to the media. Photograph: Peter Morrison/PA Wire
Jeffrey Donaldson speaks to the media. Photograph: Peter Morrison/PA Wire
Brian Hutton
Sun Jun 27 2021 - 19:05

Jeffrey Donaldson is facing a baptism of fire.

The incoming DUP leader snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to take over his ruptured party, just weeks after losing a bruising leadership contest to Edwin Poots.

But the Lagan Valley MP’s coronation over the weekend – which will be formally ratified by the DUP ruling executive this week – leaves him staring at a bulging in-tray of problems and pledges.

Having picked a fight with the Irish Government for “cheerleading” the Northern Ireland protocol after being confirmed as leader-designate by the party’s 36-strong electoral college on Saturday, the 58-year-old faces immediate battles on a number of other fronts.

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His party has been publicly torn asunder since the ousting of former leader Arlene Foster, and he has vowed to embark on a “listening tour” across the North’s 18 constituencies over the coming months.

It will be a struggle to reconnect with the party’s rank-and-file and communities on the ground amid decreased ratings for the DUP in recent opinion polls.

Donaldson has promised that a “new century party panel” will be set up within a week of his ratification to deliver an agreed plan of party reforms within 12 weeks. Discipline is a key issue.

In his first two weeks at the helm, he has agreed to start a recruitment campaign and fundraising drive to bolster party membership and resources.

The DUP’s Westminster leader also needs to figure out a way of getting back to Stormont, having promised to quit his post as an MP after almost a quarter of a century to lead as first minister at Stormont.

One possibility is being co-opted to Foster’s Fermanagh-South Tyrone seat should she vacate it.

In the meantime he will have to decide whether to leave Paul Givan – loyal to Poots – in his caretaker role as First Minister, or whether to appoint one of his own allies.

Commons byelection

A consultation on whether to have two deputy leaders – one in Stormont and one in Westminster – is also in the offing.

That still leaves the byelection for the House of Commons seat to be fought. It is far from a done deal, as Alliance has narrowed the DUP’s lead in Lagan Valley and the Ulster Unionist Party has ruled out any pact.

With unionist unease deepening over the post-Brexit protocol and shifting demographics in the North, Donaldson has also committed to a panoply of initiatives to calm nerves.

These include a “coalition for the union”, and an annual UK-wide “conference on the union” involving civic and political society, business and academia to promote “pro-union ideas, research and relationships”.

Then there is his backing for a “unionist convention” to build “practical and strategic unity” and “a new pro-union campaigning group” that would work alongside the unionist political parties.

Donaldson has been less vocal than others about the implementation of Irish language legislation in the North, which has been agreed by all the main parties but ultimately led to Poots’s ousting. It is another controversy he will have to grapple with.

The protocol, however, will remain front and centre of priorities over the coming days, weeks and months and Donaldson will have to rebuild DUP relations with the Government in Dublin, which have soured since Brexit. He accused Dublin at the weekend of being a “cheerleader” for nationalists and not heeding unionist voices.

It is unlikely Donaldson will be taking a summer holiday any time soon.