Cecil Parkinson resigned from government on October 14, 1983.

The decision came as fresh details were revealed about his extramarital affair with his former secretary Sara Keays.

Keays published a statement in The Times newspaper to “put the record straight” regarding the nature of their relationship.

Her statement criticised Parkinson’s conduct and attitude towards their relationship and contained the revelation that she was pregnant with his child.

“My baby was conceived in a long-standing, loving relationship which I allowed to continue because I believed in our eventual marriage,” Keays said.

Then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher had initially stood by her trade and industry secretary, but accepted his offer of resignation from the front bench.

Parkinson had admitted the affair on October 5 in a statement issued through his solicitor but had refused to elaborate on the relationship.

According to Keays, Parkinson twice proposed to her but each time changed his mind.

He remained in his existing marriage after the 12-year affair and returned to government in 1987. He stood down from the House of Commons in 1992 before becoming Conservative Party Chairman again in 1997 and a life peer in the House of Lords. Flora Keays was born on New Year’s Eve 1983.

She was later diagnosed with learning disabilities and Asperger syndrome, and had an operation to remove a brain tumour when she was four.

Court orders had protected her privacy until she turned 18.

In 2002 she appeared on Channel 4, saying she had missed knowing her father while growing up,

She said: “If he loved me, he would want to see me and be in my everyday life.

“I think my father has behaved very badly towards me.” (PA)