Jason Beattie writes:
Conservatives
are today mourning the passing of Cecil Parkinson.
They have paid tribute to his
political skills, not least steering Margaret Thatcher to her 1983 election
victory, and hailed him as a “good Conservative”.
The son of a railway worker who
won a scholarship to grammar school and went on to found his own business,
Parkinson was definitely what Thatcher called “one of us”.
But just like Thatcher, Parkinson
divided opinion.
He came from the era when the Tories ran the country with
an almost snarling disdain.
Parkinson was not the first
politician, and will not be the last, to have an affair.
What singled him out was not that he fathered a child
with his secretary Sara Keays but the way he treated his daughter Flora and
her mother afterwards.
According to Sara, he tried to
persuade her to abort the baby.
After she refused he then applied
for and won a court injunction that forbade Flora from speaking publicly until
she was 18 or doing anything that might identify her.
This meant she was never
photographed alongside her classmates or allowed to take part in school
activities in case it led to her identification.
We should also remember that as a
result of a brain tumour Flora had severe learning disabilities.
Fourteen years ago, Flora turned 18 and broke her silence
about the father she had never met.
“If he loved me, he would want to see
me and be in my everyday life.” There were no birthday cards or
Christmas presents.
“I think my father has behaved
very badly towards me. I feel jealous that my mother has known him but I
haven’t, and jealous of other people who go on holiday with their fathers, when
I don’t,” Flora said.
Her mother said Parkinson’s
refusal to see his daughter was “the one promise to me that he has kept”.
Parkinson served twice as Tory
Party Chairman and as Secretary of State for Business.
As does the way he treated Sara
and Flora.
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