Letter: Tim Yeo's downfall: exercise of confused standards by the Government

Sir: Considered dispassionately, it does seem hard to justify the political lynching of Tim Yeo.

Why did he have to go? Because he had an affair? This had no bearing on his ability as a minister.

Because the affair outraged public standards of morality? The British public is hardly shocked or traumatised by the news that a public figure has had sex outside marriage.

Because his public comments about single parents are at odds with his private life? The man had a problem in his marriage. He had an affair and a child. But he fought to hold his marriage together and to behave honourably towards the mother of the child. The fact that he had gone through this problem, the fact that he and his wife were still together in their marriage, hardly suggest a disdain for marriage or family life.

It would be a rigid and un- Christian morality that disqualified him from speaking up on behalf of family values on the grounds that he has had problems in his marriage. Would not divorce and final breakdown of the marriage have been a greater failure? Do we equally disqualify those whose marriages have ended in this way?

Yours faithfully,

TERENCE FANE-SAUNDERS

London, W1

6 January