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Asked about how he had waited so long to become DUP leader, Peter Robinson quipped "I am a patient man". Martin McGuinness says he is not expecting "Chuckle Brothers Mark 2". So far as the timing of the handover is concerned, the latest buzz is that it could be in mid June, not May as Ian Paisley indicated last month.

I have penned a profile of Peter Robinson for the main website. You can find it

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An accident on the M2 held up the start of this morning's DUP Assembly Group meeting as some MLAs fought their way through the traffic towards Stormont. But it would have taken more than that to forestall the inevitable. Sammy Wilson and Arlene Foster nominated Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds as the party's new "dream team". The party's 36 MLAs then unanimously approved the two ministers. Because the decision has yet to be ratified by the DUP's 120 strong Executive the two MPs withheld comment when they appeared on the Stormont steps (a strategy which provoked the jest of "Stalin is not dead" from none other than the leader designate himself). Eventually reporters cajoled Ian Paisley in to a few words. No doubt Peter Robinson will face more questions when he appears (about now) with the Taoiseach designate, Brian Cowen, at the Belfast Science Park. Ian Paisley will take questions in the Assembly this afternoon, but already the Chuckle Brothers era is looking like a chapter in history.

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