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Activist tells Yeo to resign

Stephen Castle
Sunday 02 January 1994 00:02 GMT
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TIM YEO, the minister who admitted fathering a child in an extramarital affair, yesterday faced pressure for his resignation from the Government from one of the leading local activists in his constituency, writes Stephen Castle.

Aldine Horrigan, Mayor of Haverhill, Suffolk, and vice- chairman of the Haverhill Conservative Association, said she had written to the Prime Minister asking him to reconsider his decision to stand by the 48- year-old environment minister.

Ms Horrigan said: 'If we support the Prime Minister's view on family values then it is very difficult for Mr Yeo to continue as a minister. Therefore I think he should resign.'

Any decision about de-selecting Mr Yeo would be taken at a meeting of the full Suffolk South constituency association, of which Ms Horrigan is a member. Mr Yeo, who has been supported by Mr Major and the party chairman, Norman Fowler, flew back yesterday from a family holiday in the Seychelles to criticism from opposition MPs.

The Labour MP George Foulkes claimed that Mr Yeo and his family were given preferential treatment - at a cost to the British taxpayer - on his departure from the Seychelles and arrival at Gatwick in a largely successful attempt to avoid waiting journalists.

The Department of the Environment and Foreign Office denied that any public money had been spent, but Mr Foulkes, MP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, said he would table Commons questions to the respective secretaries of state, requesting details of any cost to the taxpayer.

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