The Iris Robinson report
An Assembly investigation into Iris Robinson’s conduct has found a serious breach of the code for failing to declare £50,000 in payments.
Almost five years after the BBC Spotlight programme on Iris Robinson’s financial conduct, the Assembly Standards and Privileges Committee has concluded that she seriously breached the code of conduct for MLAs.
The committee had, in January 2010, asked interim Standards Commissioner Tom Frawley to carry out an investigation but this was suspended as a PSNI investigation was under way. The decision not to prosecute her allowed Frawley’s investigation to resume in June 2011 and it was continued by his successor, Douglas Bain.
Bain’s report was finalised in November 2013 but it was withdrawn twice following correspondence from the Robinsons’ solicitor. The revised version was then presented to the committee in July 2014 and published, with significant redactions, on 28 November. It runs to 227 pages.
The report’s main findings are that:
• Iris Robinson arranged for the property developer Fred Fraser to pay £25,000 to help Kirk McCambley establish his business;
• McCambley was subsequently awarded a lease for the Lock Keeper’s Café;
• Iris Robinson subsequently arranged for another property developer, Ken Campbell, to make an interest-free unconditional loan to McCambley for the same purpose;
• McCambley subsequently repaid £20,000 to the estate of Fred Fraser and £20,000 to Ken Campbell; and
• McCambley paid £5,000 to Iris Robinson for a charitable purpose (the Light ‘n’ Life Tabernacle Free Methodist congregation in Dundonald).
None of the above sums were declared on the register of interests; the breach of the code arose from Iris Robinson’s failure to declare the payments made by the developers. While she did not benefit directly, the payments may have been perceived by others as likely to influence her actions as member of the Assembly. The payment of £5,000 from McCambley to Iris Robinson was “so inextricably linked” to Fraser’s payment “that it should have been registered by Mrs Robinson”.
Iris Robinson admitted that she had breached the code but only after the investigation was completed. She disagreed that the breach was “serious” and instead maintained that it was “a technical breach that was understandable” due to her ill-health.
During a police interview, Iris Robinson said that she was “unaware of her duty to register her interests” and had not read the code of conduct. Her solicitor maintains that this statement was an error on her part but Bain found it “hard to accept … as honest”. She had previously declared in writing that she had read the code. Bain was unable to conclude that Iris Robinson’s statement was a “deliberate untruth” as he was unable to interview her.
In Bain’s view, the “more obvious and credible reason” was that registering the payments would have “brought them to the attention of her husband from whom she was at pains to withhold all details of the payments because of her relationship with Kirk McCambley.”
Bain established that Peter Robinson had no knowledge of the either of the £25,000 payments until December 2008 and that he first learned of the £5,000 paid by McCambley to Iris Robinson from the BBC Spotlight programme.
It had been alleged that Peter Robinson had broken the code by failing to declare the developers’ payments to Iris Robinson after he had become aware of them or failing to report a potential breach of the law. Bain concluded that he had no duty to take either action and had therefore not breached the code.
As the payments were not declared before Iris Robinson resigned from the Assembly, it is unlikely that they would have come to public knowledge without Spotlight’s investigation. However, three media reports were redacted by the committee despite being previously published or broadcast.
The report also outlines how the Spotlight investigation proceeded. Selwyn Black – an advisor to Iris Robinson and the programme’s main source – had been worried by an incident on 28 October 2009 when unknown men took his mobile phone and returned it later that day. These included text messages from Iris Robinson regarding Kirk McCambley. Black made a copy of his phone, contacted the BBC and recorded interviews with Spotlight on 14-15 November. He submitted his resignation in early December and the BBC subsequently contacted Peter and Iris Robinson for a right to reply.
Iris Robinson announced her decision to resign from politics on 30 December and the programme was broadcast on 7 January 2010. She resigned from the Assembly on 12 January, and from the House of Commons and Castlereagh Borough Council on the following day.
Separate investigations
One report into the episode is not yet in the public domain. Peter Robinson had separately asked Paul Maguire QC to investigate whether he had broken the ministerial code. Maguire concluded in February 2010 that no breach had occurred but his 24-page report has still not been published on legal grounds. The Committee on Standards in Public Life recommends the publication of all ministerial code investigation reports as a matter of transparency.
Iris Robinson was not investigated in her capacity as an MP by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards as the Assembly and police investigations were ongoing.
An investigation by Deloitte found that Iris Robinson was not involved in the awarding of the Lock Keeper’s Café’s lease by Castlereagh Borough Council to McCambley. The 37-page report was published in August 2011 and is available at www.castlereagh.gov.uk
