YEO ADMITS USING DRUG

The Conservatives faced fresh embarrassment over their drugs policy today
after an eighth shadow Cabinet minister reportedly admitted using cannabis -
and said he enjoyed it.

Tory Agriculture spokesman Tim Yeo's reported comments came after leader
William Hague spent yesterday attempting a dignified retreat from the
party's hardline zero-tolerance policy on cannabis.

Less than a week after toasting shadow home secretary Ann Widicombe's plan
for UKP100 fines for possessing even the smallest amount of cannabis, Mr
Hague admitted "concerns" about the policy and said further consultation was
needed.

And Mr Yeo apparently added to the disarray after becoming the first senior
politician of any party to say he had enjoyed the drug.

His comments followed similar confessions from Francis Maude, Archie Norman
and five other shadow ministers and Michael Fabricant, a Tory MP sitting on
the Home Affairs select committee over the weekend.