Labour peer slams 'foolish' Hodge

Mrs Hodge says she's up to the job

Margaret Hodge was "very foolish" to have branded a sex abuse victim "extremely disturbed", former deputy Labour leader Lord Hattersley has said.

She should be "too humiliated" to continue as children's minister, and could be better off returning to the backbenches, he told GMTV.

Mrs Hodge said sorry for her remarks about Demetrious Panton on Friday.

But he has set a deadline of Monday for her to explain the comments and meet further requests or he will sue.

'Vulnerable'

Mrs Hodge has already apologised "unreservedly" in a letter to Mr Panton and promised never to repeat the slur.

She is also believed to be making a donation of about £10,000 to a children's charity of his choice.

I know you suffered appalling abuse in the 1970s Margaret Hodge apology Full text of Mrs Hodge's letter Profile: Margaret Hodge

Mrs Hodge had made the remarks in a letter of complaint to the BBC about an inquiry into a child abuse scandal in London's Islington where she was council leader.

But Mr Panton wants her to explain her comments or resign.

Lord Hattersley said while he had never called on anyone to resign, Mrs Hodge had made herself "vulnerable".

"She's not perhaps vulnerable in the short term, but she has to do a number of things which many individuals would regard as such a humiliation as to be too great to endure - or at least too great to endure in office - perhaps endure from the backbenches."

He stressed: "It's perhaps a sign of her toughness, her resilience, her principles, that she wants to go on fighting...

"But I think some people would find that easier to endure on the backbenches than on the front."

I think if Tony Blair is serious about taking child abuse as an important issue, he should sack her this week Tim Yeo

Mr Panton said at first he assumed someone from social services had told Mrs Hodge he was "extremely disturbed", but it has emerged that this was not the case.

On Saturday, he told the BBC: "There is a moral context in our society and that makes it clear that you do not malice an individual who has already been through such a traumatic experience," he said.

"If she can't provide a satisfactory explanation as to why she described me as an extremely disturbed person then I am left with no alternative but to think that she did so out of pure malice."

Mrs Hodge's "extremely disturbed" comments came in a letter to BBC chairman Gavyn Davies, read out on Radio 4's Today programme.

'Incompatible'

Mrs Hodge said the letter was never meant to be published.

A Downing Street spokesman dismissed speculation she would be sacked by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"He appointed Margaret Hodge to this job. The fact that she continues to do that job, and will continue to do that job at the end of today, I think indicates the prime minister's confidence in her ability."

But on Sunday, Tory shadow education and health secretary Tim Yeo repeated calls for Mrs Hodge to step down, describing her behaviour as "incompatible" with her role as children's minister.

"I think if Tony Blair is serious about taking child abuse as an important issue, he should sack her this week," he told Sky News Sunday with Adam Boulton.