Fresh calls for Irvine to go

FRESH CALLS for Lord Irvine of Lairg to quit or be sacked were made by angry Tory MPs after the Lord Chancellor announced that his expensively- furnished apartment in the House of Lords is to be open to the public for three hours a week.

The Tory MPs were stunned by Lord Irvine's announcement that he would allow members of the public access to his grace and favour apartments for 90 minutes twice a week and only on written request.

They were astonished that Lord Irvine had allocated such little time for his apartments to be viewed after defending his loan of 87 paintings and sculptures from four national galleries on the grounds that they were stored in cellars and would be open to public view. "He has failed the first rule of politics, that when you are in a hole you should stop digging. The man has no judgement and he should go," said Tory David Ruffley.