Crisis deepens as First Minister steps aside to clear his name

In a shock move, party colleague Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster was announced as his temporary replacement, and will fill the role for up to six weeks.

The development came within hours of DUP members offering Mr Robinson their full support, but he said yesterday he needed time to care for his family, allow the crisis to be investigated and help resolve the threat to the future of the Assembly.

"As a father and a husband, I need to devote time to deal with family matters," he said. "I continue to contend I have acted ethically and it is particularly painful at this time of great personal trauma that I have to defend myself from an unfounded and mischievous allegation."

A dramatic day at Stormont began with rumours Mr Robinson was to be forced from office after a TV documentary claimed he failed to report his wife Iris to parliamentary authorities for obtaining loans for her teenage lover to run a Belfast cafe.

But just an hour after DUP colleagues at Stormont emerged from private talks to declare they were offering their support to Mr Robinson, the party announced the First Minister was to temporarily step down.

He said he had asked for a parliamentary and Assembly inquiry to be carried out into the TV documentary claims linking him to events where his wife secured 50,000 from two wealthy developers to help her 19-year-old lover Kirk McCambley set up a restaurant business in south Belfast. "This has been a difficult time...Iris is receiving acute psychiatric treatment through the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust," he said.

Repeating his claims of innocence, he added that he would now focus on helping his family, but would also continue his political work as DUP leader.

"Throughout this period I will continue to work on the outstanding issues relating to policing and justice and some other matters," he said.

Mrs Foster said ahead of the other official investigations into his conduct that departmental solicitors in the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister had already indicated that Mr Robinson did not break any rules. But Sinn Fein junior minister Gerry Kelly said his party, which shares the top office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister with the DUP, had seen only the preliminary findings of the investigation and said a full examination of the issues had to be carried out.

Mr Kelly said the DUP had yet to deal with the issues at the heart of the policing and justice stand-off. "We still have that crisis. So while there is absolute sympathy for whatever is happening in families...the key issue is where are we going politically?"

Mrs Foster said: "The departmental solicitors' office has already considered the allegations made in the (BBC) Spotlight programme and has advised Peter Robinson that he was not in breach of the ministerial code, the pledge of office, the ministerial code of conduct of the seven principles of public life, so I think it's important to say that."

She said she was also sure the senior lawyers commissioned to investigate Mr Robinson's actions would find no evidence of wrongdoing.

"I am personally confident, my party is very confident, that this will confirm that Peter Robinson, the First Minister, acted entirely properly at all times, but let's have this (investigation) and let's have it quickly."

Gordon Brown's spokesman said Downing Street was monitoring events in Belfast and would "remain closely involved".

He said: "The Government is totally focused on completing devolution with the transfer of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast. That is the Government's overriding objective."

Outrage over wife's views

Peter and Iris Robinson became Northern Ireland's 'First Couple' when he realised his long-term ambition and became Stormont First Minister and DUP leader after the retirement of Ian Paisley in 2008.

But within days of taking on the role, he was forced on to the back foot when his born-again Christian wife sparked outrage with contentious remarks about homosexuals, triggering an investigation into whether she had breached hate crime laws. No charges were brought.

Last year, they became entangled in the parliamentary expenses row. Revelations they jointly received more than 500,000 a year in salaries and expenses – with a further 150,000 in wages being paid to four of their relatives for constituency and other work – saw them dubbed the "Swish Family Robinson".