DUP LEADER Peter Robinson has sought to buy time to save his leadership by temporarily standing down as Northern Ireland’s First Minister.
The party’s Minister for Enterprise Arlene Foster (39) was appointed yesterday as acting First Minister for a maximum period of up to six weeks, at which point Mr Robinson is due to return to the post.
There is still uncertainty about Mr Robinson’s overall political future but yesterday his party, with the backing of former leader the Rev Ian Paisley and his wife Eileen, provided him with an opportunity to rescue his career and the Stormont powersharing administration.
Most of the DUP parliamentary party gathered in the great hall of Parliament Buildings, Stormont, as deputy leader Nigel Dodds read out a short statement offering the party’s “unanimous” and “wholehearted” support to Mr Robinson.
This was just hours after Ms Foster went on BBC Radio Ulster to robustly defend Mr Robinson and challenge some DUP MLAs who had said off the record that there was “no hope” for his leadership to stop their “whispering”. A former Ulster Unionist Party member, Ms Foster has risen rapidly in Peter Robinson’s DUP. She was put forward as a ministerial appointee under the Assembly’s d’Hondt system at the age of just 36. She was later promoted to the industry portfolio.
Mr Robinson said he was stepping aside for three purposes: to look after his wife Iris and his family; to rescue his reputation by challenging a BBC allegation that he breached parliamentary rules by not reporting loans which his wife procured from two businessmen; and to try to resolve the stand-off with Sinn Féin over when policing and justice will be devolved to the Northern Executive.
Mr Robinson said that Iris Robinson remains seriously ill. “Iris is receiving acute psychiatric treatment through the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. As a father and a husband, I need to devote time to deal with family matters,” said Mr Robinson.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey dubbed Mr Robinson a “lame-duck” politician while SDLP leader Mark Durkan said Mr Robinson was severely politically weakened. “Now he has seen reason to move it is hard to see how he can come back, and if he does he will certainly be diminished,” added Mr Durkan.
The DUP leader, however, said he intends to use the six weeks to achieve political stability through reaching a deal on policing and justice with Sinn Féin. Mr Robinson said: “This allows a particularly concentrated focus on these discussions and we will work to try to build on the agreements we have already reached so that a successful resolution can be reached.”
The British and Irish governments will be somewhat heartened that Mr Robinson now appears willing to focus on policing and justice.
In a statement, Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night welcomed Mr Robinson’s “decision to continue to work on the crucial issue of devolution of policing and justice and his commitment to a successful resolution”.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, and Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward are to discuss the issue in Dublin this evening.
Sinn Féin, while warning that politics remains in “crisis”, indicated a willingness to test whether the policing and justice logjam can be broken.
A statement was issued on behalf of one of the businessmen from whom Mrs Robinson sought a loan for her former lover Kirk McCambley. Legal representatives of developer Ken Campbell said he “lent the relevant monies to Mr McCambley on an interest-free basis, expecting their repayment in full, once his new business had become firmly established”.
“To date, £20,000 has been repaid, with £5,000 outstanding. With the business up and running, our client expects to be fully repaid and Mr McCambley’s debt cleared,” the statement said.
Foster takes over as First Minister insisting Robinson will clear his name: page 6; Fast riser in a male-dominated party: page 7
Robinson has bought time to strike devolution deal: page 12