Who is DUP leader Gavin Robinson?
- Published
Gavin Robinson: The basics
Date of birth: 22 November 1984
Family: Married Lindsay in 2011, one son
Education: Grosvenor Grammar School, Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast for a post-graduate qualification
Career: Barrister from 2008, special adviser to the first minister of Northern Ireland 2011-12 and 2013-15, MP for Belfast East from 2015, DUP leader since 2024
Parliamentary constituency: Belfast East
Who is he?
He has been a senior figure for several years, but Gavin Robinson's elevation to the post of Democratic Unionist Party leader took everybody - including himself - by surprise.
He was serving as deputy leader in March when leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson suddenly quit after being charged with rape and other historical sexual offences.
Mr Robinson was appointed interim leader - a role which became permanent at the end of May.
What did Gavin Robinson do before politics?
Born in Belfast in 1984, Mr Robinson grew up in the east of the city and attended Grosvenor Grammar School before studying law at Ulster University, followed by an MA in Irish politics at Queen's University Belfast.
His first job was as a children's entertainer, but his career as a barrister began in 2008, by which time he had already attracted the attention of the then-leader of the DUP Peter Robinson.
When did he get involved in politics?
In 2010 he became a DUP member of Belfast City Council.
He served as lord mayor of Belfast from 2012-2013 and on either side of his term of office he worked as a special adviser to Peter Robinson when he was first minister of Northern Ireland.
Chosen as the DUP's candidate to attempt to win back Belfast East from the Alliance Party at the 2015 general election, he unseated Naomi Long with a majority of 2,597 votes.
He is the party's spokesperson on defence and home affairs and is widely viewed as being on the more liberal wing of the party.
Where is the DUP at the moment?
Mr Robinson heads into this election defending eight of Northern Ireland's 18 seats.
It lost two - Belfast North and Belfast South - at the last general election.
It has not yet released its full list of candidates but at least one of the seats it holds - Lagan Valley - will be contested by a new candidate as Jonathan Buckley is replacing Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.
At the council elections in Northern Ireland in 2023 the DUP won 122 seats, exactly the same number as four years earlier, but slipped to second place behind Sinn Féin after the Irish republican party made gains.
A year earlier, in the assembly election, it also slipped to second place behind Sinn Féin as it lost three seats to finish with 25.
Mr Robinson is likely to face a tough fight in his Belfast East constituency, where he is up against Alliance leader Naomi Long for the fourth time in a row.
Last time around he won by a margin of 1,819 votes.
His party is likely to come in for strong criticism from the TUV over the Irish Sea border.
