Scandal-scarred N. Ireland leader suffers election defeat

Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson crashed to a shock defeat in Britain's general election yesterday after a sex and cash scandal involving his wife battered his reputation.

Despite his political humiliation, Mr Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will retain his top job in the once strife-torn British province for now because he is a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast.

His defeat in the Belfast East seat he had held since 1979 was a huge shock, described by the Belfast Telegraph newspaper as "one of the biggest political upsets of all time in Northern Ireland".

Mr Robinson saw a 6,000 majority from 2005 evaporate as Naomi Long of the cross-community Alliance party won its first seat in Parliament.

It followed a scandal earlier this year over his wife Iris's affair with a teenager and her complicated financial dealings, which prompted Mr Robinson to briefly stand down at First Minister until he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

A stunned-looking Mr Robinson insisted he would carry on as First Minister.

"I have a job to do and I have a job to complete... I will continue to carry out that important work," he said.

"We will ensure that the people of Northern Ireland have a bright and better future."

In a grim reminder of the latent terror threat to the province's peace process, a car bomb was left outside a vote-counting centre in Londonderry, the province's second city, but it did not explode and the count went ahead.

With 17 seats declared, the DUP had won eight, while the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein had won four with its president Gerry Adams holding Belfast West.

Mr Adams said he was surprised by Mr Robinson's setback, but added that the DUP leader retains the authority to stay on as First Minister.

"I didn't see it coming," he said, adding: "He has had a very torrid time recently and politics is a very tough business. One can not help but feel empathy with Peter Robinson."

Sinn Fein do not take up their seats in London - they refuse to swear their allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II - and their absence brings down the margin required for a working majority in Parliament.