Peter Robinson (politician)
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| The Right Honourable Peter Robinson MP MLA |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 June 2008 |
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| Deputy | Martin McGuinness |
| Preceded by | Ian Paisley |
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Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 31 May 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Ian Paisley |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 8 May 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Sean Farren |
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| In office 29 November 1999 – 27 July 2000 |
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| Preceded by | Newly created position |
| Succeeded by | Gregory Campbell |
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| In office 24 October 2001 – 11 October 2002 |
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| Preceded by | Gregory Campbell |
| Succeeded by | Conor Murphy |
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Member of Parliament
for Belfast East |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 3 May 1979 |
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| Preceded by | William Craig |
| Majority | 5877 (19%) |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 25 June 1998 |
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| Born | 29 December 1948 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Democratic Unionist Party |
| Spouse | Iris Collins |
| Children | Jonathan, Gareth and Rebekah |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Estate agent |
| Religion | Pentecostal |
| Website | www.peterrobinson.org |
Peter David Robinson (born 29 December 1948) is a Northern Irish politician and is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He is also Minister for Finance and Personnel[1] with overall responsibility for the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) in Northern Ireland. Robinson has occupied these positions since 5 June 2008, 31 May 2008, and 8 May 2007 respectively.
Robinson has been involved in Northern Irish politics for much of his adult life. He was elected in 1979 as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Belfast constituency of Belfast East. Following the re-establishment of devolution in Northern Ireland, Robinson was elected in 1998 as Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Belfast constituency of Belfast East.
He won the DUP leadership election unopposed on 17 April 2008.[2]; and subsequently became First Minister on 5 June 2008 following the resignation of First Minister Ian Paisley on 31 May 2008.[3]
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[edit] Early life
Peter Robinson was born in Belfast, the son of David McCrea Robinson and his wife Sheila Robinson.
Robinson attended Cregagh Primary School, a primary school in Belfast. Robinson was educated at Annadale Grammar School (now Wellington College Belfast), a single-sex grammar school in Belfast. Robinson studied at Castlereagh College (now Castlereagh Campus of Belfast Metropolitan College, a further education college in Belfast. When he left Castlereagh College he became an estate agent.
[edit] Political career
Robinson was General Secretary of the DUP between 1975 and 1979.
Robinson 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 being overtaken by his running mate Eileen Paisley.[4]
Robinson was elected as a councillor for Castlereagh Borough Council for ward Castlereagh C in the local government elections on 18 May 1977.[5]. He resign from the council on 2 July 2007[6].
Robinson was selected for Belfast East in the general election on which had a big Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) majority.[7]
He won the seat with a 19.9%[8] swing to the DUP and a majority of 64[9], 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 .
[edit] Member of Parliament
Robinson does not sit on any committees.
Robinson served on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee from 1997 to 13 July 2005[11].
Along with UUP and DUP MPs Robinson resigned his seat in protest at the Anglo Irish Agreement on 17 December 1985 and was re-elected in the subsequent by-election.
He was re-elected to the House of Commons in 1983, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2005. In the general election on June 7, 2001, Robinson’s wife, Iris, joined him in Parliament as MP for Strangford. The Robinsons are the first husband and wife ever to represent Northern Ireland in Parliament.
Robinson is the longest serving Member of Parliament for any Belfast constituency since the Act of Union in 1800.
[edit] Deputy Leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party
Robinson's electoral success was marked when he was elected Deputy Leader of the DUP in 1980.
[edit] Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)
Robinson 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.[12]
Robinson was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum on 30 May 1996 and served in it until it completed its work in 1998.[13]
Robinson was elected MLA for Belfast East in the Northern Ireland Assembly election on 25 June 1998.[14]
He was re-elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003 and 2007.
[edit] Minister for Regional Development
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 devised the 10 year Regional Transport Strategy.
[edit] Minister for Finance and Personnel
Robinson was Minister for Finance and Personnel, which has overall responsibility for the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP), from 8 May 2007 to present.[15]
[edit] Leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party
On 4 March 2008, Ian Paisley announced that he would step down as Leader of the DUP and First Minister in May 2008.[16] On 14 April 2008, Robinson was nominated unanimously by the DUP MLAs as leader designate with Nigel Dodds as deputy leader designate of the DUP and on 17 April 2008 they were both ratified by the DUP's 120-member executive committee.[17].[18]
[edit] First Minister
As Leader of the DUP, Robinson was ratified by the Northern Ireland Assembly as First Minister with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister (diarchy) on 5 June 2008.[3]
[edit] Policies and views
[edit] Description of views
Robinson espouses a populist, statist form of Unionism. He is strongly in favour of capital punishment and opposed to European integration in the European Union and the Council of Europe. Nonetheless, he is in favour of state intervention and socialist measures which are popular with his largely working class constituents.
While Deputy Leader of the DUP behind Ian Paisley he had a unique character and has an independent style. He is regarded as the leader of the urban, secular, working class wing of the DUP (as opposed to Paisley's rural, Christian fundamentalist base), and the architect of the DUP's development in recent years of a slick electoral and media machine. He is also seen as a leader of the realpolitik tendency within the DUP which acknowledges that it must at some point come to an accommodation with Sinn Féin.
[edit] Voted as MP (examples)
According to TheyWorkForYou Robinson has voted on key issues since 2001 like this:
- Has never voted on a transparent Parliament.
- Voted moderately for introducing a smoking ban.
- Voted moderately against introducing ID cards.
- Voted strongly against introducing foundation hospitals.
- Voted strongly against introducing student top-up fees.
- Voted a mixture of for and against Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
- Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
- Voted moderately for an investigation into the Iraq war.
- Voted very strongly for replacing Trident.
- Voted strongly against the hunting ban.
- Voted moderately against equal gay rights.[19]
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Clontibret
On 7 August 1986, in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Robinson led a group of 500 loyalists into the town of Clontibret in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The loyalists entered the police station in the town and physically assaulted two police officers, before holding a quasi-military parade in the town square. Robinson was later arrested. He pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly and was fined IR£17500 in a Drogheda court because of the incident. As a result, Robinson briefly resigned from the DUP deputy leadership [20]. In a subsequent court appearance in Dundalk he again led a large loyalist mob into the town which led to a riot [21]At his trial the judge described him as "a senior extremist politician." The event earned him the nickname "Peter the Punt" for a while.
[edit] Ulster Resistance
In November 1986, he spoke at the Ulster Hall demonstration which launched Ulster Resistance which collaborated with the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force to procure arms. Robinson was photographed wearing the loyalist paramilitary military uniform at an Ulster Resistance demonstration.
[edit] Satire
Robinson's character on the BBC's Folks on the Hill television programme is portrayed as aggressive and constantly trying to get away from the Ian Paisley-Martin McGuinness so-called "Chuckle Brothers" image when he works with Martin McGuinness.[22] However it does not appear that he will escape a shared nickname as "Brothers Grimm" is catching on.[23]
[edit] Personal life
[edit] Family
Peter married Iris Collins on 26 July 1970 and they have three children, Jonathan, Gareth and Rebekah.
Iris has joined him as a Councillor, a MLA and a MP. They are the first husband and wife ever to represent Northern Ireland constituencies in Parliament. On the 6th of June 2008 his wife Iris made comments on the BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show calling for homosexuals to seek psychiatric counselling. During the broadcast she said "I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals - trying to turn away from what they are engaged in,". She went on to say "I'm happy to put any homosexual in touch with this gentleman and I have met people who have turned around and become heterosexuals." Mrs Robinson claimed that homosexuality was an "abomination" and it made her feel "sick" and "nauseous".
Her claims were rebuffed by Royal College of Psychiatrists, who said that homosexuality was not a psychiatric disorder.
[edit] Religion
Robinson is a Pentecostal Christian and is a member of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Belfast, an Elim Pentecostal megachurch in Belfast.
[edit] Interests
Robinson supports Chelsea Football Club.
Robinson likes golf and bowling
Robinson keeps and cultures Koi fish, ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Northern Ireland Executive
- ^ Belfast Telegraph
- ^ a b "Robinson is new NI first minister", BBC News, 5 June 2008. Accessed 2008-06-05.
- ^ ARK
- ^ ARK
- ^ "Robinson resigns from Castlereagh", BBC News, 2 Jly 2007. Accessed 2008-06-05.
- ^ ARK
- ^ ARK
- ^ ARK
- ^ ARK
- ^ UK Parliament
- ^ ARK
- ^ ARK
- ^ ARK
- ^ Northern Ireland Executive
- ^ BBC News
- ^ BBC News
- ^ BBC News
- ^ TheyWorkForYou
- ^ CAIN
- ^ CAIN
- ^ Folks on the Hill
- ^ Belfast Telegraph
[edit] External links
[edit] Offices held
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Craig |
Member of Parliament for Belfast East 1979 – present |
Incumbent |
| Northern Ireland Assembly | ||
| Preceded by Newly created position |
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast East 1998 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Ian Paisley |
Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party First Minister 2008 |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by ? |
Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party 1980–2008 |
Succeeded by Nigel Dodds |
| Preceded by Newly created office |
Minister for Regional Development 1999–2000 |
Succeeded by Gregory Campbell |
| Preceded by Gregory Campbell |
Minister for Regional Development 2001–2002 |
Succeeded by Office Suspended 2002–07 (Conor Murphy, 2007–present) |
| Preceded by Office Suspended 2002–07 (Seán Farren, 2001–02) |
Minister for Finance and Personnel 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
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