Following his 1997 election to the House of Commons, Robertson courted controversy in May 2001 by ignoring James Cran's advice not to publicly express support for John Townend. Robertson endorsed Townend's controversial remarks about race on BBC's Newsnight saying that Townend's remarks were "basically true" and "having too many people in different multi-racial groups makes society very difficult to manage, especially in certain parts of the country. It is not that easy to manage that kind of society." Robertson was forced to apologise after being given an ultimatum to either apologise, retract his remarks and promise not to repeat them or to be stripped of the Conservative party whip. Robertson was reported to have told colleagues that he received a lot of support and was told by the Tewkesbury constituency chairman that he should not have backed down. In September 2001, he was appointed an Opposition Whip. In June 2003, was made Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry. In November 2003, he was appointed a Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs. From May 2005, he served as the Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland. He was not given a ministerial position in the 2010 Parliament, but served as chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, and was re-elected unopposed for the same position in June 2015. In May 2005, he advanced a private member's bill to outlaw abortion, making it an imprisonable offence except where the mother's life was at risk or where conception was due to rape. Following the 2007 floods in Tewkesbury, Robertson spoke out against building on flood plains. Robertson opposes gay marriage and has consistently voted against equal rights for homosexual couples. In December 2012, when the UK Government consulted on plans to extend marriage to same-sex couples, he said in Parliament: "Let me point out that although there are religious and civil ceremonies, there is only one marriage, and many people of all faiths and no faith are deeply offended—I repeat, deeply offended—by these proposals." In December 2014, Robertson along with six other male Conservative Party MPs voted against the Equal Pay Bill which would require all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries. In September 2011, details published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority revealed that Robertson was spending up to £35,000 on his partner Anne Marie "Annie" Adams as his office manager and up to £30,000 on his estranged wife Susan Robertson as his senior secretary. Under rules introduced by IPSA in 2010, Robertson would not be allowed to employ both women because MPs are limited to one 'connected' person or family member on their staff. However, because the arrangement was in place before the rule change it is allowed to continue. From 2001 to 2011, Robertson has claimed more than £1 million in MP's expenses, and has criticised plans to overhaul the system of claims for MPs. In March 2016, Robertson was accused of "cash for access" after it was reported that he sponsored a parliamentary pass for a lobbyist, Jennifer Bryant-Pearson, in 2014 whose company paid him £7,500 for consultancy advice in 2009 and 2010. Robertson is paid between £9,000 and £10,000 a year by the environmental services company Veolia, which is among Bryant-Pearson's major clients. Robertson has been employed by Veolia since 2013. In July 2017, Andrew Murrison succeeded Robertson as Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Robertson is a Eurosceptic and active in the EU pressure group Better Off Out. He is a member of the pressure group The Freedom Association. He opposes devolution and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. In mid-November 2018, following publication of the draft UK Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, Robertson submitted to the Chair of the 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party a letter confirming he had no confidence in the Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister Theresa May.
Personal life
Robertson is a practising Christian. In May 1989, Robertson married Susan Lees at All Saints Church in Farnworth. In 2002, he had an affair with Claire Parker, his constituency secretary who was married. In 2005, he divorced Susan Lees and soon cohabited with Annie Adams, a riding instructor who at the time was engaged to another man. On 7 February 2015, he married Annie Adams.
