Peter Robinson: Cool Negotiator Hit By Scandal

With a reputation as an ice-cool negotiator, Peter Robinson has survived personal and party scandals to remain at the pinnacle of Northern Ireland politics.

A former estate agent, the current first minister has been seen as the brains behind the hard-line DUP since he helped found the party alongside Ian Paisley in 1971.

The 66-year-old was born in Belfast and went to school in the south of the city, where he was inspired by the Rev Paisley's firebrand speeches and decided to join his campaign to protect Ulster from a perceived Republican threat.

In 1985 the father-of-three was a leading light in the unionist campaign against the Anglo Irish Agreement, the deal that gave Dublin a say in affairs north of the border.

Although a vociferous critic of paramilitary activity in recent years, during the Troubles, he was arrested in the village of Clontibret in the Republic after joining an "invasion" as part of a protest staged by around 500 loyalists.

He later pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly.

Mr Robinson and his DUP colleagues opposed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, claiming the release of IRA prisoners was intolerable.

They lost the argument as the agreement was resoundingly approved by the people of Northern Ireland, but won the political war with their Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) rivals.

While DUP members took jobs in the province's newly-created power sharing executive (Mr Robinson as minister for regional development) they refused to take part in cabinet meetings and were in position to capitalise when the assembly collapsed.

They displaced the UUP as the largest unionist party and in 2006 negotiated the St Andrews Agreement, which created the framework for the current assembly.

Mr Robinson and his wife Iris (also a Westminster MP and assembly member) became the first couple of Northern Ireland politics when Ian Paisley retired and handed over the DUP leadership and First Minister role in 2008.

But born-again Christian Mrs Robinson was soon in the headlines for the wrong reasons - investigated by police for describing homosexuality as an abomination and claiming gay people could be "cured".

He temporarily stepped aside as First Minister in 2010, when revelations about his wife's affair with teenager Kirk McCambley ended her political career.

He suffered further political damage when it emerged Mrs Robinson had asked property developers to lend her £50,000 to fund a new business for her young lover.

An investigation cleared Mr Robinson but found his wife had breached the Assembly's code of practice.

Mr Robinson came under fire last year when he said he backed controversial Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle Pastor James McConnell, who had branded Islam "a doctrine spawned in hell".

He has faced a gruelling schedule of late - leading his party's general election campaign and tackling intense rows over welfare reform and same sex marriage.