Donaldson's Conviction Reshapes His Legacy in Northern Ireland's Peace History

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the former Democratic Unionist Party leader and key figure in Northern Ireland's peace negotiations since 1998, was convicted Monday on all 18 charges of rape and historical child sexual abuse. At 63, he faces a lengthy prison sentence. The verdict forecloses any institutional ambiguity: his name now appears throughout the documented history of unionist negotiation permanently indexed to this conviction, altering how the peace process era itself is understood.