First Minister Robinson steps out from Paisley's shadow

Jun 5, 2008, 16:10 GMT

Belfast - After 28 years in the shadow of The Big Man, as Ian Paisley is affectionately known in Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson finally takes over as first minister of the British-ruled province on Thursday, hot on the heels of assuming the leadership of the ruling Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

A shrewd politician who previously held the purse strings at the devolved assembly in Stormont, Robinson is considered a dour hardliner who boasts about 'smashing' Irish nationalism in general and the Irish Republican Army in particular.

He assumes the first ministership of a Northern Ireland at peace after decades of bitter sectarian strife ended when a power-sharing executive was finally formed in 2007 between the DUP and the equally hardline Sinn Fein, which wants Ireland to reunite as one country.

After such a long wait, Robinson is keen to set his stamp on the party formed by Paisley in the early 1970s, and his first act as party leader was to announce his plans to attempt a reconciliation within unionism.

Robinson and the DUP point out that a split unionist vote in the constituencies of Fermanagh-South Tyrone and South Belfast led to Irish nationalists taking these seats at the last British parliamentary elections.

Many in the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), once the dominant voice of those wishing to maintain Northern Ireland's links with Britain, have viewed the offer with scepticism, pointing out that it was Paisley and the DUP that split unionism in the first place.

UUP party leader Reg Empey initially rejected Robinson's advances at the weekend, but with the UUP now down to only one MP in London and struggling into third place in the Northern Ireland Assembly, he risks languishing on the sidelines of Ulster politics.

Robinson takes over a party that is confidently the largest in Northern Ireland, but he will face political challenges from former party members like Jim Allister who are vehemently opposed to the DUP sharing power with what they view as former terrorists.

Allister's protest party managed to deny the DUP a seat in a by- election in County Down in February and it could be a thorn in Robinson's side in future elections.

Robinson also faces a major challenge in attracting investment to Northern Ireland now that the honeymoon glow of the power-sharing executive is beginning to fade.

Born in 1948, Peter David Robinson joined the DUP in 1973 when the party was founded.

First elected as a DUP councillor in 1977, Robinson quickly made his way up the ranks of the party to become deputy leader in 1980, a post he has held ever since.

He claims to have been the youngest member of the British parliament when he was elected to represent East Belfast in 1979, a constituency he took from the UUP and still holds for the DUP.

He served as deputy mayor of Belfast in 1978 and as mayor in 1986.

Robinson's parliamentary record involves opposing deeper British involvement in the European Union and support for the death penalty, according to his official website.

As minister for regional development in the Stormont assembly, one of his popular moves was to introduce free bus travel for pensioners.

Robinson is a keen breeder of Japanese koi and plays bowls and golf.

Peter is married to Iris - also a DUP MP, councillor and assembly member - and they have three children.