The Very Rev Miriam Byrne Provost of St Paul's Cathedral Dundee has been formally

The Very Rev Miriam Byrne, Provost of St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee has been formally suspended by her bishop after a year of rows during which her congregation has dwindled and she has turned down an £85,000 pay-off. He hadn't been released at all."Mr Duncan said Mr Aitken would try to reach a settlement with his creditors: "I imagine over the next few days, now that he is free, he will be able to talk to his lawyers and try, I hope, to reach an accommodation with his creditors."Mr Duncan confirmed Mr Aitken's plans to study theology "as an academic exercise" but added: "Let's scotch this rumour that he's going to get a dog collar round his neck straight away and go off to the Church. A prisoner who had been forbidden to go to a family funeral was very upset and had read in the papers that Jonathan Aitken had got special release to go to Willie Whitelaw's funeral."He thought it was unfair and he thumped him Actually, it was untrue. I think what he did - which was an attempt at criminal conspiracy to defraud us and to pervert the course of justice - was a serious thing."He's paid the penalty for that and now we just ought to move on."Aitken's release comes after he was allowed home at Christmas for a six-day visit.He began his sentence in Standford Hill open prison, also on the Isle of Sheppey, but moved jails after the Christmas break when wardens uncovered a plot by other inmates to drug, strip and take compromising pictures of him.Three prisoners at Standford Hill are thought to have hatched a plan to ply him with the date-rape drug Rohypnol and photograph him with another nude male inmate.Mr Aitken's friend, Tory MP Alan Duncan today appealed for the former Cabinet Minister to be left alone - and disclosed Mr Aitken had been "thumped" by a fellow prisoner who thought he was getting special treatment.Mr Duncan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that it's been quite a tough test for him, but he's drawn on it as a resource."The MP said Mr Aitken was "quite a popular prisoner" with queues of fellow inmates seeking his help."I think as a result a lot of people got their parole earlier because he helped them write a letter," went on Mr Duncan.Mr Duncan added: "He only got struck once It was a very interesting moment. Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken was waking up at home for the first time today after being released from prison.

Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken was waking up at home for the first time today after being released from prison. He was released yesterday after serving almost seven months of an 18-month prison sentence passed last June after being found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice during his doomed libel action against The Guardian and Granada television.He walked out of Elmley jail in Kent with the proviso that he spends two months wearing an electronic tag which will alert the authorities if he tries to leave his chosen address outside a 12-hour period between 7pm and 7am.It has emerged that the former Cabinet minister could be electronically tagged as he studies for a theology degree at Oxford University.Aitken, 57, who returned to his Westminster family home, has asked the Home Office for permission for Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, to be regarded as his home base for tagging purposes instead of the smart Lord North Street house.The £1.5 million London property is a family home, owned by his ex-wife Lolicia after their divorce, and Aitken has made no secret of his desire to study at Wycliffe Hall.Aitken wants to begin his studies at the college as soon as possible, according to friends, to continue the work he's done inside prison and before joining other students on a full-time course.A Prison Service spokesman, while declining to comment on individual cases, said it was possible for a prisoner to change his home base for tagging purposes."If there is good reason and we were given enough advance warning and the other home was deemed suitable, then there's no reason why it shouldn't be done," he said.Peter Preston, who was editor of The Guardian when it first made the allegations which triggered Aitken's downfall, reminded the ex-MP that he owed the paper and Granada more than £1 million."For myself I hope Jonathan Aitken comes out of prison quietly, gets back to some kind of normal life, perhaps makes some money from writing, and that we can all forget about it," he said yesterday."The thing that's really got on my wick a little bit over the last few months has been the way a sort of cult of celebrity has somehow attached to him and to his time in prison."I wish in my heart I could say that I don't think some of his friends and old supporters have been slightly vamping it up as some kind of victim status with a little glamour attached to it."I don't think that's right. I feel the time has come to step aside and give someone else the chance to seek the privilege of representing the people of Perry Barr."Mr Rooker, who has been married to Angela for 28 years, added: "Although I have no plans for the future, I do not intend to retire from public life and will keep all options open. As a serving government minister, it would be inappropriate to have firm plans."He said he had a "major task" in assisting the implementation of substantial reforms to the Government's pensions and welfare policies as Social Security minister.. But he was said to have been keen to move from his post because of strains in the relationship with Nick Brown, the Minister of Agriculture.While he was a backbencher in June 1977, he and Audrey Wise introduced the Rooker-Wise amendment, which links personal tax allowances to the rate of inflation, preventing the erosion of non-taxable income.He said yesterday: "I have enjoyed every day of being a full-time MP, but at the next general election, I will have served 27 years. He was an Agriculture minister before last summer's reshuffleTony Blair was particularly impressed by his handling of the crisis over GM crops. Jeff Rooker, the Social Security minister, announced yesterday that he will stand down as an MP at the next general election. Mr Rooker, 58, is rumoured to have his eye on a high-profile job and disclosed that he did not "intend to retire from public life". He has been MP for Birmingham Perry Barr since 1974, and is well-regarded by Downing Street.

"I would not want to laugh at any of the newspaper editors," he insisted.The Government's problems over the millennium celebrations deepened yesterday as Sir John Bourn, the Auditor General, revealed that 10 of the 27 major projects funded by the Millennium Commission at a cost of £854m were running behind schedule.. Mr Rooker, 58, is rumoured to have his eye on a high-profile job and disclosed that he did not "intend to retire from public life". Jeff Rooker, the Social Security minister, announced yesterday that he will stand down as an MP at the next general election. I thought, as most of the 2.5 million who stood in the weather probably thought, it was a bit of a laugh."However, Mr Dobson was forced to clarify his off-the-cuff remarks amid fears in his camp that newspaper editors caught in the long delays at Stratford would have the last laugh in their coverage of his battle against Ken Livingstone to become Labour's candidate for mayor of London. Frank Dobson's attempt to portray himself as an ordinary Londoner backfired yesterday when he branded as "toffee-nosed" the people who queued for hours to get to the Millennium Dome on New Year's Eve. While most of his former cabinet colleagues enjoyed the VIP treatment at the Dome, Mr Dobson watched the capital's firework display with his family from a vantage point on St Peter's Hill, near St Paul's Cathedral.He said yesterday: "When I got back [from the millennium celebrations] I heard that people who had been arriving at Stratford Station in chauffeur-driven cars had to wait.

Mr Livingstone probably needs 70 per cent of the party members' votes to secure overall victory.. Frank Dobson's attempt to portray himself as an ordinary Londoner backfired yesterday when he branded as "toffee-nosed" the people who queued for hours to get to the Millennium Dome on New Year's Eve. William Hill lengthened Mr Dobson's odds from 2/1 to 11/4 second favourite and offers 7/1 against Steven Norris (Conservative), 16/1 against Ms Jackson, and 100/1 against Andrew Boff (C) and Susan Kramer (Liberal Democrat).The 85.8 per cent support for Mr Livingstone in the TGWU ballot gave his bandwagon another push, and the fear in Downing Street is that some undecided party members will now swing behind the Brent East MP.In the electoral college, trade unions and party members each command one- third of the votes, with the remaining third shared by London's Labour MPs, MEPs and assembly candidates.Mr Livingstone looks certain to achieve a comfortable win among the unions but Mr Dobson will win overwhelming backing from the MPs. His latest leaflet has two pages of abuse about me and not a sentence about policy."Ms Jackson sought to capitalise on Mr Dobson's problems, describing yesterday's fightback as "straight from the manual of John Major relaunches".Yesterday, Mr Livingstone was made 2/5 favourite by the bookmaker William Hill to win the mayoral race, after winning the overwhelming support of the Transport and General Workers' Union in a ballot of members in the capital.