Minister still facing writ for libel
Minister for Children Margaret Hodge has until four o’clock Monday to avoid receiving a writ for libel from Demetrius Panton, a former child abuse victim, who she described as “extremely disturbed.”
Mrs Hodge was forced to make a humiliating public apology on Friday for the remarks made in a letter to Gavyn Davies, the BBC chairman.
She has already apologised “unreservedly” in a letter to Mr Panton.
Mr Panton was in care when Mrs Hodge was leader of Islington Borough Council during the 1980s.
Mr Panton, a consultant to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, wants a second apology from her to ascertain why she used those words about him.
He said on Friday that her apology did not come from the heart and was just a tactic to keep her job. He said she should ‘do the decent thing’ and quit.
Mr Panton also wants Mrs Hodge to pay for legal costs and make a donation to charity.
Mr Panton said: “When the story broke, I knew that the remarks were untrue and that they were libellous. But sometimes people repeat something they have heard from someone else. My solicitors have asked her solicitors for an explanation, and Mrs Hodge hasn’t offered me one.
“Unless I get an explanation, I can only assume she acted out of pure malice.”
Though Prime Minister Tony Blair continues to back Mrs Hodge given her past success as a minister, Roy Hattersley, former deputy Labour leader, said the minister’s job was now “vulnerable.”
And Liz Davies, a social worker in Islington when Mrs Hodge was council leader, said the minister ought to stand down.
“I always did believe that she was not the right person to be Minister for Children, given the history, which she’s never been accountable for, of what happened in the Islington child abuse scandal.
“She subsequently described children in care as disruptive; she’s now described Demetrius as ‘extremely disturbed’.”
