Published Tuesday, 29 December 2009
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."
A meeting of the party officers will be held to discuss the decision, possibly later this week.
It expected she will stay on as MP for Strangford until the general election next year, but her position at the Northern Ireland Assembly where she was once chairperson of the health committee, is likely to be filled as soon as possible.
It is understood the 60-year-old mother-of-three had been away from her desk for a period earlier this year, and after talking about her future at Stormont and Westminster with her husband over Christmas, decided she needed to stand down.
In a statement to the Press Association Mrs Robinson, 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."
Mrs Robinson has been at the centre of two major controversies this year - her criticism of homosexuals and revelations that she and her husband who is also MP for east Belfast draw more than £500,000 a year in salaries and expenses, which includes payments to four members of the family who work on 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.
'Depression'
In her statement on Monday night, she said she had recently tried to return to the full-time work of representing her constituents following the latest period of illness.
"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," she said.
"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."