Parker exit sparks caucus row

The news that David Parker had resigned all his portfolios was greeted with shock by the Labour caucus.

Some MPs are said to have compared the swift exit of Mr Parker from the Cabinet with the amount of energy that went into keeping his colleague David Benson-Pope.

Former Cabinet minister Marian Hobbs and minister outside the Cabinet Judith Tizard were among those who raised questions about his exit.

Mr Parker resigned as Attorney-General as soon as it was revealed he had filed false returns to the Companies Office. Yesterday he quit his Transport, Energy and Climate Change portfolios.

The Government's defence of Mr Benson-Pope against allegations of bullying schoolchildren consumed senior parliamentary figures for months.

Marian Hobbs last night refused to discuss what had gone on in the caucus but said she had concerns about Mr Parker's exit. "To discredit democracy you start weakening people's trust in it and there's quite a decided campaign and who benefits by that but the right wing?"

She said that was a reference to the Weimar Republic and the rise of fascism in Germany in the 1920s.