What Jeffrey Donaldson’s arrest means for Northern Ireland

THE STORYDUPDUPMPDUPDUP has transfixed Northern Ireland. On March 28th Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was roused from his bed by police, arrested and later charged with sex offences, including rape. The next day, Good Friday, he resigned as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (), Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party. The legal process will probably take more than a year. The political impact has been immediate and immense.The now has its fourth leader in under three years—making the Conservative Party at Westminster look almost stable. Gavin Robinson, the interim head, is likely to get the job permanently. The moderate, articulate for East Belfast, a barrister by training, is the ’s youngest-ever leader. If he can hold the together, he has the ability to help the party appeal to the younger, more liberal voters it needs to reverse unionism’s recent decline. But he has his work cut out.