Wirral West MP Stephen Hesford's resignation anguish

Sep 30 2009 Birkenhead News

WIRRAL West MP Stephen Hesford’s decision to resign his government post last week led to “one of the worst days of my life”, he says.

The former parliamentary private secretary relieved himself of his duties on an “old-fashioned point of principle” in the wake of revelations that chief legal officer Baroness Scotland employed a housemaid who did not have permission to work in the UK.

On the eve of the Labour party conference, with Gordon Brown having publicly backed his beleaguered colleague and hoping the furore will blow over, Stephen Hesford found himself the centre of wall-to-wall media coverage.

Yesterday, he told the News: “I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t enjoy doing it.

“It was one of the worst days of my life, but I felt I had to do it.”

The former barrister said he made his decision in “splendid isolation” and has since received “overwhelming support” and “hundreds of emails” from fellow MPs and voters.

Mr Hesford said: “One day I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing and the next minute a story breaks, which you don’t expect, and you have to react.

“I thought about it overnight and decided I couldn’t support Baroness Scotland’s decision.”