MP reunited with 'lost' daughter despairs at tabloid intrusion

It was a fairytale public reunion, with joy, tears and a shared passion for chocolate mice. But now, the Labour MP Stephen Pound is wishing he had kept it a secret.

It was a fairytale public reunion, with joy, tears and a shared passion for chocolate mice. But now, the Labour MP Stephen Pound is wishing he had kept it a secret.

When Mr Pound's daughter, Lucy, contacted him out of the blue a year ago, he was so delighted to discover her existence he didn't think to keep it quiet.

"In my naive, stupid way, I thought people might understand how two people's lives could come together, after being separated," he told The Independent on Sunday.

Now his family is being "doorstepped" by the tabloid press and he has been receiving anonymous hate mail. "I didn't realise how painful this would be for her - all this publicity," he said. "I wanted to take it slowly."

Lucy was conceived 36 years ago during a love affair that didn't last, and the 18-year-old Mr Pound left for the Royal Navy, never knowing he had a daughter. He only found out when Lucy wrote to him last year at his Westminster office. "She was sane, sensible and logical," he recalled. "I liked her immediately."

They met, and informed their families - Mr Pound has two teenage children. "I didn't want to be false about it; I introduced her to people as my daughter," he said. "What I didn't realise was that once you've started this process going it changes everybody's lives, and not necessarily for the best.

"It's like a village here, and people are interested even in the most obscure MP. I'm amazed at some of the letters I've had. Why would somebody take the trouble to write anonymously to a backbench MP to tell me I should be castrated?"

Mercifully, Lucy has been able to retain her anonymity, but Mr Pound hasn't been so lucky, although he has been supported by his wife and children, who he says have been "very cool" about the news.

His colleagues Clare Short and Ann Keen, who have recently been reunited with children given up for adoption, have been a great help.

He and Lucy and their families are now trying to avoid the media storm and maintain a semblance of normal life. "I just hope that when all this dies down we can have a relationship," he said. "What I really want to do is bump into her in the street and go for coffee. I just want to be normal with her."