In a surprise decision, Iris Robinson  has thrown the Democratic Unionist Party into disarray by announcing her withdrawal from public life because of mental illness.

She made the decision over Christmas after discussions with her husband Peter, the DUP leader. “It came right out of the blue,” said a party member. “Hardly anybody had advance warning this was going to happen.” She will remain a Westminster MP until the general election but her seat at the Northern Ireland Assembly will be filled by another DUP member.

Mrs Robinson, 60, a mother of three and an MP since 2001, admitted that she has been suffering serious bouts of depression. “The stress and strain of public life comes at a cost and my health has suffered,” she said. “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. When I am better able to do so, I want to say more about this period of my life.”

The controversial wife of Northern Ireland’s First Minister has been taken to task lately for hiring family members for staff positions and attempting to expense two thousand dollar coffee tables with taxpayer money while saying things like” “The government should institute God’s law,” and that “Homosexuals are beneath child molesters.”

She sparked outrage earlier this year when she offered to put gay men in touch with a psychiatrist who claims he can make them straight. More than 13,000 people have already signed a petition on the Downing St website asking the Prime Minister to reprimand Mrs Robinson. Moreover, Sinn Fein members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have suggested she seek professional help. "Iris seems to be constantly obsessed with the gay and lesbian community," said Martina Anderson. "I think she should seek a quiet moment to sit down and talk to somebody herself. "She seems to be displaying all the characteristics of someone under severe pressure and she should take herself away and sort out her life."