What we now know for certain about former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson is that he is a paedophile, presently in prison awaiting what is likely to be a lengthy sentence for the abuse of two very young girls; a drunk, who wandered around Westminster slugging from bottles of wine and who “projectile vomited” over the mayor of Beijing during a visit to China; a sex pest – at least one case was brought to the attention of senior members of the DUP while, on another occasion, and in a drunken state, he sat on the knee of a woman MLA and tried to kiss her; a thoroughgoing hypocrite who, while cloaked in evangelical Christianity, condemned homosexuality, frequented gay saunas, added the purchase of porn films to his parliamentary expenses claim form, and had a number of extramarital affairs (one of which led to his wife bugging his car).

Two questions come to mind. How did this tsunami of depravity, deception, dishonesty and horror manage to remain under the radar for so long, particularly when Donaldson appeared to be both reckless and very public in his behaviour? He had been an MP since 1997 and yet there hadn’t been any red flags about his behaviour.

Fair enough, most of it wasn’t criminal in nature, yet regular drunkenness and hypocrisy is the sort of stuff that tends to be noted and tucked away by party colleagues. A more worrying question, though: is it possible that there were people who were aware of the Mr Hyde side of his nature and who used that knowledge to push him down a path that suited the particular interests of the British government?

Jim Allister, an MP and leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), a party that opposes powersharing with Sinn Féin and also the Northern Ireland Protocol,........

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