MARGARET THATCHER considered bringing disgraced minister Cecil Parkinson back into her cabinet two years before he returned but was told such a move could prove politically damaging, archive documents show.

The married trade and industry secretary, a firm favourite of the prime minister, was forced to stand down in 1983 after it was revealed that his former secretary Sara Keays was pregnant with his child.

He eventually returned to the cabinet in 1987 but newly released documents from the former prime minister’s private papers show she seriously considered his return in 1985.