MANY people have heard of the affair between Sara Keays and Cecil Parkinson.
The scandal engulfed the political world in the 1980s, but who is Sara?
Sara Keays first entered the limelight when she because the personal secretary of Conservative politician Cecil Parkinson.
She was born on June 1, 1947
She was involved in a 12 year affair scandal with her boss – with the pair going onto have a child together.
Cecil and Sara’s affair is thought to have started in the early 1970s.
Their relationship went on for 12 years before it came out publically and Sara fell pregnant with their daughter.
Parkinson resigned over the scandal with his former secretary in October 1983.
Sara published a statement in The Times newspaper at the time to “put the record straight”.
She said: “I told him that while I accepted the fact he was not going to marry me, I could not deny my baby his right to know the identity of his father.
“My baby was conceived in a long-standing, loving relationship which I had allowed to continue because I believed in an eventual marriage.”
Sara said that Parkinson proposed to her twice but changed his mind both times.
Parkinson managed to save his marriage with his wife Ann Mary Jarvis.
They already had three daughters – Mary, Emma and Joanna.
Parkinson returned to government in 1987.
My baby was conceived in a long-standing, loving relationship which I had allowed to continue because I believed in an eventual marriage.
Sara Keays
Parkinson and Sara’s child Flora was born on New Year’s Eve in 1983.
After court orders to protect her privacy until she was 18 she appeared on Channel 4 in January 2002 saying she missed knowing her father.
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.”
Flora suffered epileptic fits as a child and at the age of four had surgery to remove a brain tumour.
Due to having her right frontal lobe removed she was left with serious social and learning difficulties.
She also has Asperger’s syndrome.
Parkinson never denied that Flora was his daughter but the two of them never met.
A Very British Sex Scandal: The Love Child and The Secretary will air on TV on May 1, 2024.
It will be on from 9pm on Channel 5.
The programme will delve into the details of the affair between Sara and Parkinson.
If you miss the documentary it will become available to watch on My5 after it has aired.
