Tiny's wife calls for Smith to quit as MP
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Your support makes all the difference.Josephine Rowland, wife of the Lonrho boss Tiny, last night stepped into the row over payments for parliamentary questions by suggesting that Tim Smith quit as her local MP.
The Rowlands live in Mr Smith's constituency of Beaconsfield and faced a barrage of Commons criticism by Mr Smith during the row between Lonrho and the Fayeds, owners of Harrods.
Mr Smith resigned his Northern Ireland ministerial post last Thursday after admitting he had failed to declare his fees from Mr Fayed in the Register of MPs Interests.
Mrs Rowland said: 'I don't think he should stay on as an MP.' She accused Mr Smith of asking 'vile questions' in the Commons that implied 'something filthy was going on'.
Mrs Rowland yesterday sent Kevin Hourigan, chairman of the Beaconsfield Conservative Party, a letter enclosing a newspaper cutting from 1989. In the article, Mr Smith denied he had a 'consulting role or formal connection' with Ian Greer, the parliamentary lobbyist, although he admitted he had discussed the FayedsLonrho row with him.
The report followed a question in the Commons in which Mr Smith asked whether the Solicitor General would be recommending A Hero from Zero - Mr Rowland's attack on the Fayed brothers - for the Booker Prize for fiction.
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