Lord Cecil Parkinson was a political darling of the Thatcher era, rising up from humble originals to become a shining star of the 1980s Conservative Party.
He was a slick minister with mass public appeal – before it all came crashing down.
A Very British Sex Scandal: The Love Child & The Secretary, a new Channel 5 documentary, explores how the ex-MP fathered a daughter with his secretary and began a smear campaign against his former lover of 12 years.
Here is everything you need to know about Lord Parkinson, Sara Keays and their “very British sex scandal”.
Who was Cecil Parkinson?
Lord Parkinson was a British Conservative Party politician and served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet in four secretary of state roles, including the for trade and energy.
As the son of a railway worker, born in Carnforth, north Lancashire he was unlike many of his privately-educated Tory peers.
After attending a grammar school, Lord Parkinson won a scholarship to Cambridge University, at which time he was a Labour supporter.
He soon bought a specialist engineering firm and settled into married life with his wife Ann. Together, the couple had three daughters, Mary, Emma and Joanna.
Despite what her husband and the British media would later put her through, Lord Parkinson’s wife stayed by his side for the rest of his life.
At the age of 39, his political career began in earnest, after he was elected as a Conservative MP and appointed a minister in Mrs Thatcher’s first government in 1979.
He quickly made his way through the ranks, known for his suave demeanour and slicked-back hair.
Helping the prime minister mastermind her 1983 landslide victory against Labour, Lord Parkinson was duly rewarded by Mrs Thatcher and was promoted to her Cabinet as trade secretary.
Among rumours the ambitious politician might one day become chancellor, or even party leader, the shocking revelations about Lord Parkinson and his secretary, Sara Keays – and their soon-to-be-born child – completely derailed his career.
When did Cecil Parkinson’s affair with Sara Keays begin?
Soon after Mrs Thatcher’s re-election, it emerged he and his secretary had been engaged in a 12-year affair, which may have continued for longer if Ms Keays had not fallen pregnant.
She broke the news to him in her London flat and, upon being told the news, Lord Parkinson insisted his lover of over a decade get an abortion, according to Ms Keays’ biography A Question of Judgement (1985).
“I was shattered by his reaction,” Ms Keays said in the book. “I had not expected this… He said that I had better understand that he would never marry me and that if I had the baby, he would never have anything to do with me again and never wanted to see the child.”
She said Lord Parkinson was ultimately concerned about his career.
After admitting his affair to Mrs Thatcher, Lord Parkinson continued to receive the backing of his party, even when the story emerged in the Private Eye just as the Conservative Party conference had begun that year.
Then began Lord Parkinson’s campaign to smear Ms Keays as a promiscuous gold-digger.
He began briefing the press, claiming his former lover had purposefully got pregnant in order to trap him in a marriage with her.
Nevertheless, the scandal was too much for even a respected politician like Lord Parkinson to withstand, and he was forced to resign from Cabinet and retreat to the back benches in October 1983.
His child, Flora Keays, was born on New Year’s Eve, with learning difficulties and Asperger’s syndrome, and was later operated on to remove a brain tumour at the age of four.
Lord Parkinson wished his baby “peace, privacy and a happy life” in a public statement and he reportedly never met his daughter.
Although he assisted in her financial upkeep and education, he purportedly never even sent her a birthday card.
Four years after his daughter’s birth, Lord Parkinson was restored to the front benches as Mrs Thatcher’s energy secretary.
When Mrs Thatcher resigned in 1990, though, so did he.
The year after leaving the House of Commons, despite his long affair, Lord Parkinson was made a Baron and was given a life peerage in the House of Lords.
He was then appointed party chairman after the Tories lost power in 1997.
When did Cecil Parkinson die?
In 2016, at the age of 84, Lord Parkinson died after a long battle with cancer.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, said he was “the first big political figure that I ever worked for” describing his old boss as a “man of huge ability”.
“He was part of a great political generation that did really extraordinary things for our country,” added Lord Cameron. “He will be hugely missed on all sides of the political divide.”
Announcing his passing, a family spokesman said: “We shall miss him enormously.
“As a family, we should like to pay tribute to him as a beloved husband to Ann and brother to Norma, and a supportive and loving father to Mary, Emma and Joanna and grandfather to their children.
“We also salute his extraordinary commitment to British public life as a member of parliament, cabinet minister and peer – together with a distinguished career in business.”
What happened to Sara and Flora Keays?
According to Ms Keays, Lord Parkinson twice proposed to her during their affair, vowing to leave his wife, but each time changed his mind.
Having given birth to their daughter, Ms Keays homeschooled Flora and, when she did go to school, after Lord Parkinson became the Conservative Party chairman, she was apparently bullied.
“It was torture for her. She was bullied, just because somebody thought it was necessary for him to have his job back, basically.”
There was a court order to protect Flora’s privacy until 2002. When this was lifted, however, she appeared on a Channel 4 documentary saying she had missed not knowing her father.
“If he loved me, he would want to see me and be in my everyday life,” she said. “I think my father has behaved very badly towards me.”
Maintenance payments to Ms Keays for her daughter, who requires her mother’s 24-hour care, ceased a few months after Lord Parkinson died.
His daughter was excluded from his will but was provided for separately as the beneficiary of a life assurance policy worth £350,000.
Where can I watch A Very British Sex Scandal
The documentary will air on 1 May at 9pm on Channel 5.
If you miss it live, A Very British Sex Scandal: The Love Child & The Secretary can be streamed online on My5 after it has aired.
It will feature journalists, politicians and broadcasters including Ian Hislop, Edwina Currie and Mathew Parris.