Mrs Robinson and her teen toyboy: How Northern Ireland's first lady's affair threatens to destroy one of the most powerful couples in politics


Glamorous: Peter and Iris Robinson at Parliament Buildings Stormont in 2008

How cruelly ironic her name seems today.
Indeed, the similarities between the fictional Mrs Robinson, who seduces a youthful Dustin Hoffman in the classic Sixties film The Graduate, and the real Mrs Robinson - Iris Robinson, MP, wife of Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter - have become embarrassingly apparent over the past few, revelation-filled days.
Excruciating details about sex, adultery, a 'toyboy lover' and the whiff of corruption threaten to destroy, if they haven't already done so, one of the most glamorous - and powerful - couples in British politics.

Their lavish lifestyle, including fast cars and three homes in London, Belfast and Florida, have earned them the nickname 'Swish Family Robinson'.

Might it now all be at risk?
Let's start at the beginning of this extraordinary, and still unfolding, story which has already sent shockwaves through Westminster and Stormont.

On Wednesday, Mr Robinson, 61, held a 'press briefing' at his Belfast home. Inside, a small group of political journalists and TV crews were given a statement from 60-year-old moral crusader Mrs Robinson.
The mother of his three children, and an evangelical Christian, was admitting - in black and white - to a 'brief affair' 18 months ago before being overwhelmed by 'guilt' and attempting 'to take my own life'.
Mrs Robinson was not in the house when the bombshell was dropped, but her husband of nearly 40 years was waiting in his study to face the cameras.
'This has been the most difficult period of my life,' he said, reading from prepared notes, often close to tears.
'I have been deeply hurt by what has happened and feel the pain of it every day.'
His initial impulse, he admitted, was simply to 'walk away', but 'in a spirit of humility and repentance, Iris sought my forgiveness, she took responsibility upon herself alone for her actions and I have forgiven her'.
It was the equivalent of Gordon Brown sitting in Downing Street and baring his soul about being cuckolded on, say, News at Ten.


Kirk McCambley was only 19 when had the affair with Mrs Robinson


Mr McCambley leaves the Lock Keeper's Inn in South Belfast yesterday

'I do not want to return to this subject and I am determined to try to put this issue behind me,' Mr Robinson stressed at the end of the most traumatic and emotionally charged public appearance of his career.

That was never going to happen. Apart from anything else, the confession left two glaring questions: why did Mr Robinson, leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party, who sits in the House of Commons in London as MP for Belfast East, go on television at all? And who was the other man?
We now have the answers - which potentially erodes any sympathy there might have been for the Robinsons' domestic tragedy.
The 'secret lover', it emerges, with whom Mrs Robinson had an 'inappropriate relationship' - to borrow her husband's words - was Kirk McCambley, 21. He was just 19 at the time. She was 59.

Peter Robinson tells the media he has forgiven his wife for the affair

Like the big-screen Mrs Robinson, she was also a close family friend who had known Mr McCambley since he was a boy. When his father, Billy, a local butcher, died, she offered support to his son - which became much more intimate in the summer of 2008.
Certainly, one should not underestimate the fallout from this flurry of lurid headlines.

Their party - the DUP - was once led by the Reverend Ian Paisley and is made up of staunch God-fearing Ulster protestants: adherence to family values is the bedrock of their faith.

So why has it all come to light now? Well, BBC Ulster's Spotlight programme was about to expose the scandal.

In fact, the reporter working on the investigation had already turned up at Stormont with a microphone and a series of allegations to put to Mr Robinson on Tuesday.

He declined to meet him, but organised his own 'press conference' the following day.
Perhaps Mr Robinson hoped that the documentary would be pulled on the grounds that humiliating his wife - who says she is still receiving psychiatric treatment for mental illness - with further disclosures might tip her over the edge.

If so, he was sadly mistaken. It was broadcast late on Thursday night. The youthful Mr McCambley agreed to be interviewed.

'I worked in the butcher's since I was nine and I always seen [sic] her coming in and out,' he said.

'I knew her from a very early age through the butcher's and my dad. She looked out for me and made sure I was OK, and obviously anyone who has lost a parent knows it's an incredibly hard time and she was there to help.'


Also interviewed was Mrs Robinson's former political adviser Selwyn Black, the whistleblower for the affair, who revealed how Mrs Robinson, the MP for Strangford, had sent him text messages about Mr McCambley, including one which said: 'He is the other son I would have loved to have been a mother to.'

It would be difficult to imagine a more personally damaging exchange for a woman with three grown-up children - especially given what we now know about their sexual relationship.

Yet this is not the whole story. Mrs Robinson was given £50,000 by two wealthy property dealers, both family friends, which she gave to Mr McCambley in order for him to open a cafe business.

She obtained two cheques for £25,000 each from businessmen, named as Fred Fraser, who has since died, and Ken Campbell. Mrs Robinson, it is claimed, then demanded a £5,000 kickback, paid directly to her, after her lover received the loans.


'Dream couple': Peter and Iris, who were childhood sweethearts, pictured with their three children Jonathan (left), Gareth and Rebekah, in 1991

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