Word: robinsons
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...revelation followed a series of other disclosures about the Robinsons' private lives over the past couple of weeks. On Dec. 28, Iris Robinson, who serves in both the British Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly, announced that she would be ending her 20-year political career, saying she had been suffering from "serious bouts of depression." Then, on Jan. 6, a handful of television journalists were invited to meet Peter Robinson at his home outside Belfast. Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's largest political party, is known for his clinical, dispassionate public image. As the cameras...
...Thursday, a BBC television program called Spotlight issued a report accusing First Minister Peter Robinson's wife Iris of breaking the law by failing to disclose her financial interest in a 2008 business deal that helped launch the café. The report alleged that Iris Robinson - then age 59 and, like her husband, a well-known politician in Northern Ireland - had obtained $80,000 from two property developers for a 19-year-old man, Kirk McCambley, with whom she had been having an affair. According to the report, the teenager allegedly used most of the money...
...years ago, Iris Robinson caused an outcry when, during a BBC radio interview, she described homosexuality as "an abomination" and suggested that gay people could be "turned around" through counseling. A few days later, she reiterated her views, telling a TV interviewer that "just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual." Gay-rights activists accused her of inciting hatred, and scores of complaints were lodged with the police. According to the Spotlight report, Robinson's relationship with McCambley started before those comments were made. (See pictures of the British army leaving Northern...
...Although Evangelical influence over the DUP has waned in recent years, Evangelical congregations - particularly those in rural Northern Ireland - still form the backbone of the party founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley in 1971. The couple's standing among these devout members is now likely to deteriorate. "The Robinson affair will be difficult for core DUP supporters," says Gladys Ganiel, a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and author of a book on Evangelicalism in Northern Ireland. "It certainly doesn't hurt to talk about your faith in public in Northern Ireland politics, and no one has done that more than...
...Although Iris Robinson had already indicated her intention to quit politics before the Spotlight show aired, she now faces calls to resign immediately. As for her husband's political future, much depends on how much Peter knew of the money his wife is alleged to have obtained for her lover. The majority of the BBC's evidence came from Selwyn Black, a former political adviser to Iris, who produced several text messages sent by his employer referring to the business deal and her husband. Black also claims that, during phone calls with Iris, he overheard Peter allegedly advising his wife...