Peter Robinson

Background Peter David Robinson was born on 29 December 1948 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of Sheila and David McCrea Robinson.[citation needed] Robinson was educated at Annadale Grammar School and Castlereagh College, now part of the Belfast Metropolitan College.[9] Although Robinson's family had no background in unionist politics, he developed an interest in the politics of Northern Ireland following the death of a school friend, Harry Beggs, killed that year in an IRA bombing at the Northern Ireland Electricity headquarters on the Malone Road.[9] Robinson initially gained employment as an estate agent for R.J. McConnell & Co and later with Alex, Murdoch & Deane in Belfast, and then he became the DUP's first general secretary in 1975.[9] Political career Member of the DUP Robinson was General Secretary of the DUP between 1975 and 1979. He first stood in the election to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention on 1 May 1975 in Belfast, East. Although he started in fifth place, he failed to get elected and was overtaken by his running mate Eileen Paisley.[10] Robinson was elected as a councillor for Castlereagh Borough Council for the Castlereagh C area in the local government elections on 18 May 1977,[11] a seat he held until his resignation from the council on 2 July 2007.[12] Member of Parliament and Executive Minister Robinson was selected as DUP candidate for Belfast East during the 1979 general election, a seat which previously had a big Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) majority.[10] He won the seat with a 19.9%[10] swing to the DUP and a majority of 64,[10] with Alliance Party leader Oliver Napier 928[10] votes behind, unseating the MP former Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party leader and UUP candidate William Craig on 3 May 1979. He was re-elected to the House of Commons in 1983, 1986 (along with other unionist MPs, he resigned his seat in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement on 17 December 1985 and was re-elected in the by-election the next year), 1987, 1992, 2001 and 2005. In the 2010 UK general election he lost Belfast East to Naomi Long of the Alliance Party.[13] Robinson served on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee from 1997 to July 2005.[14] In the general election on 7 June 2001, Robinson's wife, Iris, joined him in Parliament as MP for Strangford. Leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party Robinson's electoral success was marked when he was elected Deputy Leader of the DUP in 1980. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East on 20 October 1982 where he served as Chairman of the Environment Committee until it was dissolved in 1986.[10] In 1986 he was involved, alongside other DUP leaders, in the launch of Ulster Resistance at the Ulster Hall, an event chaired by the DUP. Robinson was later photographed wearing a beret at an Ulster Resistance rally.[15] The DUP later severed links with Ulster Resistance in 1987. Robinson resigned briefly as DUP Deputy Leader in 1987 when the Task Force Report, written jointly with UUP members Harold McCusker MP and Frank Millar and calling for a strategic unionist rethink in the wake of the Anglo-Irish Agreement was rejected by their respective leaders, Ian Paisley and James Molyneaux. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum on 30 May 1996 and served in it until it completed its work in 1998.[16] On 25 June 1998, he was elected MLA for Belfast East in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.[17] He was subsequently re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003 and again in 2007. Robinson was Minister for Regional Development, which has overall responsibility for the Department for Regional Development (DRD), between 29 November 1999 to 27 July 2000 and 24 October 2001 to 11 October 2002. He was responsible for the introduction of free fares on public transport for the elderly and helped formulate the 25-year Regional Development Strategy for Northern Ireland and devise the 10-year Regional Transport Strategy. Robinson was Minister of Finance and Personnel from 8 May 2007 to June 2008.[18] On 4 March 2008, Ian Paisley announced that he would step down as Leader of the DUP and First Minister that May.[19] On 14 April 2008, Robinson was nominated unanimously by the DUP MLAs as leader-designate with Nigel Dodds as deputy leader-designate and on 17 April 2008 they were both ratified by the DUP's 120-member executive committee.[20][21] He formally became leader on 31 May 2008. First Minister of Northern Ireland As he was nominated by the largest party, Robinson was ratified by the Northern Ireland Assembly as First Minister with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister on 5 June 2008.[22] On 11 January 2010 Robinson announced that he was temporarily stepping down from the position of First Minister to clear his name over BBC allegations arising from the Iris Robinson scandal. Arlene Foster was designated to discharge the duties of First Minister until his return.[23] Robinson faced claims that he knew his wife had obtained £50,000 from two developers for her teenage lover but did not tell the proper authorities, leading to him asking the House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Assembly to carry out an inquiry into his conduct. After an OFMdFM lawyer advised Robinson that he had committed no wrongdoing, he returned to active duty as First Minister despite the ongoing investigations by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Assembly Commissioner for Standards and Privileges. While the police investigation into the conduct of the Peter and Iris Robinson concluded in a recommendation not to prosecute in 2011, the Standards and Privileges enquiry remained incomplete three years after it was ordered by the Assembly. It was delayed as Iris Robinson was adjudged medically unfit to respond to the enquiry.[24] The report was finally completed at the beginning of 2014, and finally made publicly available on 28 November 2014.[25] Section 13 of the report stated that the three BBC allegations against Robinson "even if established after investigation", did not breach of the Code of Conduct. Robinson with George W. Bush (centre) and Martin McGuinness (left) Robinson meets with United States President Barack Obama at the White House on St. Patrick's Day 2009. On 5 February 2010, Robinson and McGuinness oversaw the devolution of policing and justice powers from the British Parliament to the Northern Ireland Assembly, negotiating a power-sharing deal with Sinn Féin.[26] This process ensured that devolution in Northern Ireland was able to be fully completed.[26] At the 2011 Assembly election, both the DUP and Sinn Féin increased their number of seats. Robinson had led the DUP to its best ever Assembly election result. Robinson and McGuinness were sworn in for a second term as First Minister and Deputy First Minister respectively shortly afterwards. In 2012, Robinson was involved in the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Northern Ireland, when she shook hands with Martin McGuinness. Robinson supported the event, saying, "We recognise that this will be a difficult ask for Her Majesty The Queen and a significant step for republicans. The process has required us all to reach out and take decisions outside our comfort zone. It is the right decision and a step forward for Northern Ireland."[27] On 19 November 2015, Robinson announced he would be stepping down as Northern Ireland First Minister and leader of the DUP. Although he had recently suffered a heart attack, he stated his health was not the main reason behind his decision to stand down.[7] He did not contest the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election.[28]