Enoch Powell said that all political careers end in failure. He might have passed on that advice to his one-time South Down constituency agent, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who is now perilously close to confirming his former mentor’s opinion.
In an internal email which he presumably knew would be leaked, Mr Donaldson has accused party colleagues of briefing against the DUP. This suggests not just a superficial difference of opinion within the party, but a significant internal split over its leadership and direction.
He should be familiar with the notion of undermining the party leadership, because he called for David Trimble’s resignation as a member of the Ulster Unionists, before he left to join the DUP.
Division and disloyalty are nothing new to unionism. It is fuelled by the belief that claims of personal political purity should take precedence over party pragmatism. That is the basis on which the DUP was formed and it is on that same basis that it is now faltering.
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The party’s problems are largely self inflicted. Having advocated Brexit, it failed to foresee its consequences and then refused to deal with them.
Today, rather than making the Windsor Framework operational, the party continues to stay out of Stormont, despite the difficulties that creates for everyone, including its own supporters.
Mr Donaldson now faces a significant test of leadership. He must decide whether to reach agreement on the Windsor Framework or remain a prisoner of his own right wing.
His leaked email suggests that he is trying to isolate his critics on the right, but by bringing the problem into the open he has merely helped to highlight the party’s internal divisions. That in turn has exposed his precarious position as party leader.
By allowing the issue to drag on for so long, he has allowed the party’s problems to fester. It leaves him with only one course of action if he hopes to survive as the leader of unionism’s main party. He must push past his critics, cut a deal on the Windsor Framework and return the DUP to Stormont.
All political careers do not necessarily end in failure, but those that do tend to result from poor decision-making. It is time for Jeffrey to make the right decision for once, or fulfil the forecast of his one-time tutor.
