The DUP’s approach to the downfall of its former leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, has been a textbook example of crisis management. The party suspended him the moment he was arrested, condemned him the moment he was convicted and gave unambiguous support to the legal process for the two years in between. Questions are naturally being asked about whether anyone inside the party had suspicions but there are no serious claims so far of prior knowledge.Even if the public accepts this, Donaldson has left the DUP with two significant problems: a rushed replacement leadership and a conspiracy theory about Brexit.When Donaldson was arrested in March 2024 he was in the midst of a protracted farce over relocating from Westminster.The DUP believes its leader should be at Stormont. Donaldson was an MP when his chance for the top job arrived in June 2021, following the resignation of Arlene Foster and the hapless three-week tenure of Edwin Poots.Moving to Stormont would have meant resigning from Westminster and finding a DUP assembly member willing to give up their seat, so Donaldson could be co-opted into it. Despite promising to do this, it soon became apparent he had no intention of leaving London until a prominent post in Belfast was guaranteed.In February 2022, Donaldson withdrew the DUP’s first minister, Paul Givan, in protest at the Brexit sea border, causing devolution to collapse. Donaldson stood in the subsequent assembly election, won a seat, then immediately resigned it to stay in Westminster - an unexpected move that left many DUP voters and members feeling betrayed.Emma Little-Pengelly, a former MP, was co-opted into this assembly seat. Observers presumed she was keeping it warm for Donaldson and would eventually be the candidate to replace him at Westminster.In February 2024, Donaldson restored Stormont after striking a deal with the British government to accept the sea border. By that point the next Westminster election was months away so he remained in London to spare his party a by-election. Little-Pengelly was nominated as deputy first minister, presumably to keep that seat warm as well.One month later, Donaldson was arrested, stranding Little-Pengelly in post.The deputy first minister has since acquitted herself well - she was the executive’s most popular minister in a poll last year - but her authority remains hampered by lack of a personal mandate. Co-option also means she lacks a power-base within her party.Donaldson was replaced as leader on the day of his arrest by Gavin Robinson, the deputy leader. Robinson had long been seen as a future leader and there is nobody on the horizon to replace him, but even his closest allies would concede he has been elevated prematurely by circumstances. Worse still, he is an MP, continuing the Westminster versus Stormont problem, except this time the DUP is too weakened to risk another game of musical chairs. It cannot presume to win any by-election, retain the public’s patience and avoid internal splits.The party is stuck in a strange plight, where it has two good people in its two top roles, yet neither quite belong and there is nowhere else for either to go.The restoration of Stormont eight weeks before Donaldson’s arrest provoked conspiratorial mutterings at the time. The PSNI was moved to issue a rare clarification, explaining it had not received allegations until four weeks before the arrest.The Traditional Unionist Voice has raised these suspicions again. Leader Jim Allister claimed this week that rumours about Donaldson were “in the ether” from March 2023 and it is “inconceivable” the government and intelligence services had not heard them.“The idea of such being used for leverage is far from fanciful,” he added.“[Donaldson’s] about turn from unalterable opposition to the Protocol to Protocol facilitator was telling.”The clearest evidence against this implication is that Donaldson’s about turn was obvious and drawn out over years. He was clearly equivocating from late 2021, as Allister should recall, having ridiculed him for it. The eventual deal with London was a paper-thin face saving exercise and everyone knew it. Donaldson caused bemusement by claiming he had removed all sea border checks and paperwork but his distraction in those final weeks is unsurprising in retrospect. His departure was a chance for the DUP to put that mistake behind it.Unfortunately for Robinson, he was at Donaldson’s side as deputy leader while the deal was over-sold. It is difficult for him to move the party on without appearing complicit in the spin or foolish for believing it, as rival unionist parties are aware.In his condemnation of Donaldson this week, Robinson showed the empathy and gravitas of a leader, but condemnation of appalling crimes is a straightforward matter.It will take more political skill to extricate the DUP from its Brexit fiasco, a task Donaldson left incomplete.