THE CONSERVATIVE Party was again engulfed in sleaze yesterday as senior cabinet ministers urged the MP Mr Piers Merchant to resign following newspaper allegations of his affair with a 17-year-old Soho nightclub hostess.
Clearly unperturbed by the political ramifications of a third Tory MP resigning within a week over sleaze allegations, the deputy Prime Minister, Mr Michael Heseltine, publicly called on Mr Merchant (46), who is married with two children, to resign for the good of the Conservative Party.
"I haven't the slightest doubt that Piers Merchant, his family and his association will want to consider very carefully the consequences of what has happened for the party at large. He must listen to what I have just said very carefully. Whatever I and my senior colleagues in the party feel about this issue, and obviously we are bound to feel let down, the constitution of the Conservative Party leaves judgments about these things to the local people," Mr Heseltine said.
Although the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, did not cull for Mr Merchant's resignation, he pointedly did not offer his public support for the MP for Beckenham, Kent, and stressed he would have to "explain the story" to his constituents and the party.
"We need to find out what exactly has happened. I don't yet know that. I've seen the newspaper reports but I haven't spoken to Piers Merchant. I haven't heard what he has to say about it," he added.
However, Beckenham Conservative Association issued a statement supporting Mr Merchant, describing the allegations as "regrettable" and criticising the Sun newspaper for its "intrusive" reporting.
The constituency chairwoman, Mrs Margaret Howath, said: "I have not yet seen these allegations but from what I hear they are typical allegations of the intrusive style of journalism practised by the Sun. Piers Merchant is an excellent and hardworking member of Parliament and it is regrettable that he has been pilloried in this fashion by this newspaper."
Hours after the newspaper printed its six-page spread on his alleged affair, Mr Merchant posed on the doorstep with his wife Helen and denied having a relationship with Anna Cox (17), claiming he had been set up.
As he studied lurid photographs printed in the newspaper of him kissing the nightclub hostess, Mr Merchant, who celebrates his 20th wedding anniversary next week, insisted his wife would not be upset by them. "Anna is a very dear friend of mine and has been helping my campaign. But there is no question of us having an affair. That may well be me kissing her in the pictures but I see nothing in that and I am sure my wife will not be the slightest bit concerned," he said.
Ms Cox told the paper that she met the MP at a Young Conservatives event last October and helped him with secretarial work in the House of Commons before their alleged affair began in February. "I am not old enough to vote but I'm old enough to know when I have been used," she said.
Political pundits predict Mr Merchant will be forced to resign before the weekend, particularly as the Sun newspaper warned that "there is more to come".
To add to the Tories' problems Mr Max Clifford, the publicist who has been behind a number of tabloid sleaze stories, announced yesterday he planned to reveal another Conservative "skeleton" before the general election.
PA adds:
Sir Julian Critchley, the veteran Tory MP who is retiring at this election, spoke of his "horror" when he saw this morning's Sun. "It's such a set-up but on the other hand he has been such an idiot," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.
"I think it is only a matter of time before he does the decent thing and withdraws. The pressure on him and the evidence is so great, he would have little or no choice." Sir Julian added: "We cannot go on like this. It used to be a joke in the House of Commons that the Conservative Party's scandals were sexual and the Labour Party's scandals were financial. Our scandals are both financial and sexual."