Jeffrey Donaldson

Personal History

Mr Jeffrey Donaldson is 37 years old and is married to Eleanor with two young children - Claire aged 9 and Laura aged 8. The family resides in Moira and Jeffrey is a partner in a Financial Services and Estate Agency business based in Lisburn.

He joined the Young Unionist movement at the age of 18 and went on to become Chairman of the Ulster Young Unionist Council in 1985 and 1986. His political career began in 1983 when he was appointed agent to The Rt Hon J Enoch Powell, Member of Parliament for South Down. Jeffrey successfully spearheaded Mr Powell's election campaigns in 1983 and 1986 when the seat was retained in spite of an in built Nationalist majority in the constituency.

Political History

In 1985 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly with the distinction at the age of 22 of being the youngest person ever to win a seat at Stormont with a majority of some 15,000 votes. During this period he also served as Personal Assistant to The Rt Hon The Lord Molyneaux of Killead KBE who was then Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. In 1988 Jeffrey was elected Honorary Secretary of the Ulster Unionist Council, a position which he held until March 2000 when he was elected a Vice President. His responsibilities as a Party Officer include oversight of the Ulster Unionist Party Bureau In Washington, DC. He has been a regular visitor to the United States often accompanying the Party Leader on high profile delegations which have included several meetings with former President Clinton arid former Vice President Al Gore.

Jeffrey was a member of the Ulster Unionist negotiating team in the Northern Ireland constitutional talks since 1991 when he took part in the talks chaired by Secretary of State, Peter Brooke which continued in 1992 under the chairmanship of Sir Patrick Mayhew. In 1996 he topped the poll and was elected to represent the Lagan Valley constituency in the Northern Ireland Forum. He was a key member of the UUP negotiating team in the talks culminating in the Belfast Agreement in April 1998. However, because of concerns about a number of issues including the decommissioning of terrorist weaponry, Policing reform and early release of terrorist prisoners, Jeffrey voted 'NO' in the subsequent referendum.

Following the decision by Sir James Molyneaux to retire from the House of Commons at the General Election, Jeffrey was selected by the Lagan Valley Ulster Unionist Association as their Parliamentary candidate. He was subsequently elected to Parliament on 1 May 1997 with a majority of some 17,000 votes over his nearest rival, the largest majority of any constituency in Northern Ireland.