TORY EARL 'TRIED TO SELL COCAINE INSIDE LORDS'

A TORY peer faces suspension and possible expulsion from the
Conservative party after he was accused last night of trying to sell
cocaine in the House of Lords while peers debated new anti-terror
legislation.

Lord Joseph Philip Sebastian Yorke, the 10th Earl of Hardwicke, was
trailed by reporters from the News of the World. The newspaper reports
today that the 27-year-old hereditary peer met an undercover reporter
posing as a businessman with a cocaine habit in the middle of last
week.

At talks in the Savoy hotel on Wednesday, says the newspaper,
Hardwicke arranged to meet the reporter at the House of Lords the next
day. Peers had been recalled to attend Thursday's emergency
law-and-order debate on Irish terrorist groups.

With peers rushing by to vote, Hardwicke is said to have
told the newspaperman on Thursday: "That stuff last night
was quite harsh, industrial. I've got some even better stuff
today - some real nice quality coke for you. I think you'll
be impressed. I'll have it in about half an hour, but we can
meet later if you like. Just tell me how many grams you want."

Hardwicke later met the journalist at a restaurant in Chelsea and
handed over two grams of cocaine for UKP120, the newspaper claims.

Speaking from a secret location in Spain, Hardwicke told
The Sunday Times: "To tell you the truth this has come as a
great shock and I can't really say anything at the moment."

A Tory spokesman said last night: "We do not tolerate this type of
behaviour in the Conservative party. Anyone found guilty of
drug-dealing would be hauled before our ethics and integrity committee
and, after due process, expelled. Any parliamentarian suspected of
drug-dealing would find himself deprived of the Conservative whip
while investigations were mounted."

Hardwicke is a cousin of Lord Hesketh, a former Tory
chief whip in the Lords. Hardwicke told the News of the
World: "My cousin, Lord Hesketh, persuaded me to join
the Conservative benches in the Lords. I'm not a political
animal. I hate public speaking. It's really boring."

The news came as a bodyblow to senior Tories last night. Their party
conference takes place next month, the second with William Hague as
leader. He had hoped that Tory sleaze scandals were a thing of the
past.

However, allies said the newspaper claims could demonstrate the merit
of Hague's new Tory constitution, which provides for the expulsion of
wayward members for the first time. Any scandal involving a Tory
hereditary peer could also strengthen Hague's hand as he prepares for
a showdown with lords who have inherited their title. Hague intends to
abandon support for hereditary peerages as they exist now and outflank
Labour by advocating a more democratic House of Lords than Tony Blair.

Hardwicke has a reputation as one of the more colourful figures in the
Lords. Born in 1971, his late mother, Virginia Anne, an actress, took
him to live in the West Indies at the age of five.

The newspaper's revelations, if true, are likely to cause
embarrassment to his influential circle of family friends, said to
include one of the wealthy Rothschild dynasty.

Hesketh declined last night to comment on the allegation about his
cousin.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry