Robinson asks Foster to step in as First Minister

DUP leader Peter Robinson has asked a party colleague to step in as First Minister, the Northern Ireland Assembly was told today.

Assembly speaker William Hay told surprised politicians in the chamber that the North’s current enterprise minister Arlene Foster has been asked to take on the functions of First Minister.

The shock move comes just one hour after DUP colleagues backed the beleaguered Mr Robinson, who was under pressure to resign over the scandal surrounding his wife’s undisclosed financial dealings with her lover.

Mr Hay told the chamber: ``I think it is important that I share with you a letter that I have just received from the First Minister.

“I wish to inform the House that I have this afternoon received written notice from the First Minister Peter Robinson that under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 he has designated Mrs Arlene Foster to exercise the functions of the office of First Minister.

“The designation takes immediate effect.”

He said he was calling a meeting of party whips to discuss the surprise move.

Stormont officials said the procedural device could last for six weeks - sparking claims that Mr Robinson may be providing himself with a window of opportunity to clear his name.

There was speculation that while DUP colleagues had earlier “offered” Mr Robinson their support, it was only the first step in a choreographed plan by the party to deal with the political crisis.

The day at Stormont began with speculation that Mr Robinson could be ousted from office.

He has been facing calls for his resignation after a TV documentary claimed he failed to report his wife Iris to the parliamentary authorities for obtaining loans for her toyboy lover to run a Belfast cafe.

The DUP leader has said he has done nothing wrong and told his wife, who is now said to be receiving acute psychiatric treatment from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, to pay back the loans.

It has been an horrendous four weeks for the First Minister.

Just after Christmas it was announced his wife would be withdrawing from public life and as an MP and MLA because of her battle with severe depression.

But then the speculation began to grow about the couple’s future. Last Wednesday he confirmed his wife had a secret affair and tried to take her life when she confessed to the relationship with Kirk McCambley last March.

The following night, the BBC current affairs programme Spotlight revealed Mrs Robinson had also secured £50,000 (€55,000) from two property developers, both friends, to finance her lover’s restaurant business on the banks of the River Lagan in south Belfast.

Mr Robinson immediately vowed to clear his name after vehemently denying any knowledge of his wife’s irregular financial dealings when it emerged she had breached the laws covering local government by failing to disclose her involvement in the project.

At the weekend she was then dumped by her Democratic Unionist Party and told to resign immediately from Westminster and Stormont. Her membership of the party was also terminated.