The decision by the wife of Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson to quit politics because of a battle with mental illness shocked her Democratic Unionist Party.
Some of Iris Robinson's closest associates, including a number of MPs, were unaware of her plans to withdraw from public life until she made the announcement, according to party sources.
‘It came right out of the blue,’ said one. ‘Hardly anybody had advance warning this was going to happen.’
It is understood that she had been away from her desk for a period earlier this year, and after talking about her future at Stormont and Westminster over Christmas, decided she needed to stand down.
In a statement to the Press Association last night Mrs Robinson, 60, a mother of three, and an MP since 2001 said she had suffered serious bouts of depression.
She added: ‘The stress and strain of public life comes at a cost and my health has suffered.’
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward paid tribute to her work as an MP.
Mrs Robinson has been at the centre of two major controversies this year, there was the revelations that she and her husband, also an MP , draw more than £500,000 a year in salaries and expenses including payments to four members of the family who are part of their staffs.
She provoked outrage among the gay community when she claimed homosexuality was an abomination which made her feel sick.
It caused uproar, and she was labelled ‘wicked witch of the north’. But despite the fierce criticism, Mrs Robinson remained defiant.
In her statement last night she said she had recently tried to return to the full-time work of representing her constituents following the latest period of illness.
She added: ‘Over the years, I have undergone a long series of operations and though I have never talked about it publicly, I have, against this background, also battled against serious bouts of depression.
‘Only those who have faced similar challenges in life will know the ordeal faced by those who are profoundly depressed and the distress caused to those around them as they grapple with personality changing illness.
‘One in four of the population struggle with mental illnesses at one level or another yet few talk about it openly.
‘When I am better able to do so, I want to say more about this period of my life.
‘The stress and strain of public life comes at a cost and my health has suffered.
'Regrettably I have concluded, after considering the matter over Christmas and discussing it with Peter, who has always been most supportive and caring, that I can no longer maintain the high standard of service I require of myself, meet the demands of office and cope with the pressures of public life without my health deteriorating yet further.’
