People

People

LORD ARCHER EXPELLED
Britain's Conservative Party on Friday expelled multi-millionaire novelist Lord Archer for five years, after the former mayor of London candidate admitted asking a friend to lie for him ahead of a libel case. Archer appeared before the party ethics and integrity committee, which concluded that ``Lord Archer has engaged in conduct which brought the party into disrepute'' and ordered the expulsion. Lord Archer, a party member for 35 years and a life peer, said in a statement he was ``disappointed'' and considering whether or not to appeal.

Ambitious from his earliest years, Archer used his charm and fund-raising abilities to climb almost to the top of the party. Born in 1940, Archer joined the Conservative Party while a student at Oxford University, and launched his political career a year after leaving college by securing a seat for the party on the Greater London Council in 1966. In October 1999 he won a handsome victory over his nearest Tory rival, Steven Norris, andwon the endorsement of leader William Hague as a ``candidate of probity and integrity''. But the revelation last November that he had asked a friend to lie ahead of the libel case against The Daily Star finally brought his downfall.

CHERIE TO CHALLENGE TONY
Cherie Blair is to represent Britain's trade union movement in a legal challenge against her husband's government over parental leave, the orgnisation has announced. Cherie Booth, as she is known in the legal profession, advised Trades Union Congress last month that EU regulations, which give parents new rights, had not been properly implemented in Britain.The action in the high court is expected to start in the next few months, but could coincide with another important date in her diary the arrival of her fourth child due in May.

An EU directive on parental leave gives parents the right to three months' unpaid leave, but under British legislation, parents of children born before last December 15, when the regulation was introduced,were excluded.

RED RETURNS TO POLAND
Sex shops, authorities in Poland have decreed, must disappear from the Polish capital's streets, as must any other business connected with the sex trade. But where will it all go? A logical answer is to establish a red light district where it can all be kept under control. It's a debate that's predictably stirring up controversy with authorities for it, but those involved divided.

A controlled red light area ``would be good,'' says Deputy Mayor Stanislaw Rojek, who is quick to point out that sex businesses at the moment can simply hide behind ordinary trading regulations. ``An agency can be located near a kindergarten and a sex shop next to a vegetable stand it's complete disorder,'' says Rojek.Stanislaw Kosowski, director of the city's Trade and Services Department, warns: ``Sex shops will have to disappear from markets soon because the administrators are going to be told of the ban on trade in pornographic material and sex gadgets.''

GARY BAUER WITHDRAWS
Family values champion hopeful Gary Bauer has announced he was quitting his bid for the Republican presidential nomination following his resounding defeat in the New Hampshire primary. ``I am withdrawing my candidacy,'' Bauer told reporters at a Washington hotel on Friday. ``I do so with a good feeling.''

Bauer did not say whom he intended to back as Republican nominee. Still in the race are Texas Governor George W. Bush, Arizona Senator John McCain, millionaire Steve Forbes and former diplomat Alan Keyes.

Bauer, 54, a former member of the Reagan administration and first-time candidate for the White House, had focused on his anti-abortion convictions and China as his main campaign strategies. During his withdrawal speech, Bauer said he believed abortion ``will stick in our throats until we get it right...I will not be moved on this issue, I will not go away.''