Parkinson's illegitimate daughter: 'I have been ignored and I hate

Sunday Herald, The, Jan 6, 2002 by After 18 years Flora finally gets the chance to tell the world her

FLORA Keays, the illegitimate daughter of former Tory party chairman Cecil Parkinson, has spoken out for the first time about her father and the legal restraints which have kept her silent for 18 years.

Keays spoke to a tabloid newspaper ahead of a Channel 4 documentary to be shown on Thursday about her life and that of her mother, Sara, Lord Parkinson's former secretary with whom he had a 12- year affair.

Parkinson was forced to resign as Trade Secretary in the Thatcher administration after news of Sara's pregnancy leaked out at the Conservative Party conference in 1983 - effectively curtailing his political career.

Although he had promised Keays he would leave his wife Ann and marry her, he instead broke off the affair and has never met his daughter, according to the two women. Subsequently his lawyers sought a series of legal restrictions of increasing severity which effectively prevented any aspect of Flora's life being discussed in public.

The most strict of these, known as a Mary Bell order, was first used to protect the identity of the child-killer of the same name. It is thought never to have been used before for a child in circumstances such as Flora's The legal gagging orders were allegedly to protect the child from embarrassment and ensure a measure of anonymity as she was growing up. However, they were so severe that not only was Sara banned from talking publicly about her daughter's life or about the child's father - Flora herself was also effectively silenced. She became almost invisible, and on one occasion when a school photograph appeared in a local newspaper, she was the only pupil who was not named, as identifying her would have put the paper in contempt of court.

When Flora turned 18 on New Year's Eve six days ago, the remaining restrictions lapsed, allowing the documentary and interviews to go ahead at last. The development is likely to be highly embarrassing for Lord Parkinson, who was once tipped as a potential prime minister.

Yesterday, Flora was reported as saying: "I would like to see him. If he loved me he would want to see me and be in my everyday life. I would like to go to the cinema with him and have some fun.

"I feel jealous my mother has known him, but I haven't, and jealous of other people who go on holiday with their fathers when I don't," she said. Flora, who has three half-sisters whom she has also never met, added that she would one day like to meet them too.

She has suffered major health problems from an early age. At 18 months she began to suffer regular epileptic fits, caused by a non malignant tumour on her brain. At the age of four and a half, she underwent five hours of brain surgery to remove the tumour, a risky operation which carried only a 30% chance of success. She suffered lasting damage, leaving her with problems which were compounded by a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, a mental health problem related to autism.

As well as health problems, Flora has had ongoing educational difficulties, but the documentary will allege that Parkinson made little or no effort to enquire after her well-being, still less to see her or provide for her.

"I think my father has behaved very badly towards me," Flora is reported as saying. "I feel I have been ignored until now and I hate that. It hasn't been fair."

Asperger's syndrome causes sufferers to have communication problems. They often lack basic social skills and experience feelings of social isolation and low self esteem.

Flora's battle with the condition took her to a specialist institute in Jerusalem for a revolutionary treatment. An earlier documentary about her trips there was never shown after the television company made a failed legal bid to lift the injunction.

"It was very special making the film and I was very upset that it wasn't on television," Flora said.

Sara Keays, who has made repeated attempts to have the injunctions which prevented her talking about her daughter lifted, is also interviewed in Thursday's programme.

Speaking yesterday, she said the legal restrictions had damaged her ability to fight on her daughter's behalf, and done nothing to protect Flora. Keays, who had political ambitions herself while working for Parkinson, was appalled by the paucity of provision for people with special needs. She has also campaigned on behalf of single parents.

But she was unable to refer to her own situation in public, while Flora has been traumatised by the public denial of her very existence, Sara said. "It has been an abomination, the sort of thing you could only imagine happening in Stalinist Russia.

"The only one to benefit is Cecil Parkinson. The injunction has stopped me getting Flora the help she needed because everyone assumed the worst about her - and about me - and I could do nothing to change those false perceptions," she said.

Keays said she was now wary about her daughter's desire to meet with her father. "If he saw her only once I know it would cause her terrible distress and just show her what she had missed."

Flora's Story, which is being screened at 9pm, January 10, on Channel 4, includes interviews with both women, as well as home video footage from Flora's childhood plus excerpts from the banned 1995 documentary.