Bid to oust Tory MP

DEEP divisions within the Conservative Party will come out into the open this week when Eurosceptic fans of Lady Thatcher seek to oust Hugh Dykes, MP for Harrow East, writes Paul Routledge.

Mr Dykes, aged 54, chairman of the European Movement and a prominent critic of his party's anti-Maastricht rebels, faces a motion to deselect him at his constituency party's executive council meeting on Wednesday.

Businessman Cyril Daniels, a vice-chairman of the party association, will lead the deselection move. 'It is going to be a rough meeting, he said.

Mr Dykes, who has represented Harrow East since 1970 and has a 11,098 majority, said last night: 'I am a very hard- working MP and I support them loyally and I expect the same thing back from them.'

Mr Dykes once urged the Prime Minister to 'see off the rebels once and for all'.

Divided Tories, page 17