He was seeing the minister at the request of the Chief Whip, Alastair Goodlad Mr Dykes said: "I think it will be a positive meeting.". Two British nurses accused of murdering a colleague in Saudi Arabia were reunited with their families at a police station yesterday. Lucille McLauchlin, 31, from Dundee, and Deboroh Parry, 41, from Alton, Hampshire, who have been in jail for three weeks, had separate meetings with their families at Dammam, the Foreign Office said. Stan and Ann McLauchlan, from Dundee, appeared distressed. Mrs McLauchlan was in tears as they went through Heathrow airport on Saturday. Relatives of Miss Parry, 41, were thought to have been on the same flight. The nurses were initially said to have admitted killing Yvonne Gilford but then retracted the confessions They could face the death penalty..
As he prepared to head up the Khyber Pass today, John Major, came under sniper fire from his Tory rebels for suggesting that he may have "unlocked" the European problem for the Tories. The Prime Minister, speaking to journalists accompanying his trip to India and Pakistan, clearly had his mind on the issue allegedly still causing him sleepless nights at home. He confided in the travelling party that he believed he knew how to resolve the question of "flexibility" - the troubled attempt to find a way of allowing EU member states to progress in some policy areas at different speeds. "Yes, I can see a way of unlocking it," he said.Mr Major added: "We still have to negotiate our way through But I can see how it can be done. I will endeavour to see it is done in the discussions over the next few months." It may have been the curry, or the heat, or both. But the "key" to unlocking the mysteries of flexibility was seen as nothing more than a mirage back home by Tory Euro- sceptic MPs.Bill Cash warned it would lead to appeasement. He said: "We sold the pass at the Maastricht Treaty by agreeing that we would never veto the other member states from going ahead, while taking an opt-out ourselves.
This is creating federalism, not stopping it."But Mr Major was adamant: "I think I will be able to make progress with that, yes I doubt that progress will be finalised until Amsterdam. It is likely, as it was in Maastricht, it will all come together in the endgame, I would guess. So we may make some progress before then, but I think it will only be enshrined in treaty form when the heads of government meet in Amsterdam."Mr Major will today take the route followed by smugglers over the centuries when he visits the Khyber Pass in a bid to think up ways of choking off Britain's heroin supply.One aide to Mr Major said: "He is aware he will get all the cracks like `Carry on up the Khyber', but as well as wanting to see the Khyber Pass, he believes the only way to find solutions to the drug supply problem is by going to see the place itself."Mr Major yesterday met the ousted Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, who spoke of her fears that she could soon be jailed by the regime in her country..Ms Bhutto joked with Mr Major about elections in Pakistan and Britain. She said: "I must say, Prime Minister, you have all the luck.
When I met you last October, I thought you would be facing a general election before I was!"Meanwhile, two Tory rebels who were angered by a government decision on a local hospital are due to meet the Secretary of state for Health, Stephen Dorrell, today.Sir John Gorst, the MP for Hendon North, rocked the party last month by announcing he was withdrawing co-operation from the Government because of the treatment of a casualty unit at Edgware General Hospital.He will be joined at his meeting with Mr Dorrell by Harrow East MP Hugh Dykes, who has been rumoured to be considering a similar protest.. Tony Bullimore, the British yachtsman rescued in the Southern Ocean last Thursday, arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, early today to a hero's welcome. In a ceremony beamed around Australia live on television, Mr Bullimore receivedthe cheers of thousands of well-wishers on the quayside and a navy band playing "It's a Wonderful World". The Adelaide docked soon after 8am Australian time after completing a seven-day voyage from 1,500 miles south-west of Perth to rescue Mr Bullimore and Thierry Dubois, 29, a French sailor, after their yachts capsized in a gale in the Southern Ocean.After Australian government and naval officials went on board to greet the sailors, Mr Bullimore emerged to roaring cheers from a crowd of more than 5,000. As the crowd gave him a rousing three cheers, the Briton hugged Dubois and, turning to point to the ship, said: "I would not be here if it was not for these people." He insisted on hobbling down the gangplank in the glorious sunshine to acknowledge the welcome, despite doctors' orders to stay off his feet, which were damaged during his four- day ordeal trapped under his upturned yacht in freezing waters.Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Bullimore said, "I couldn't get any further down and started to allocate a last few hours of `what am I going to think about?'. At the same time a little bit of the old professionalism came through - `keep going, don't give up'. Then all of a sudden I heard the sound of an aircraft." Thanking the crew, he said, "I have been given another chance It has been absolutely astonishing. I am slightly emotional over this," he said, stretching out his arms in a gesture of thanks to the rescue services.Bullimore looked relaxed and smiling and was wearing a grey and navy overall and a blue cap.
His fingers, which were hurt when the boat capsized, were heavily bandaged.t The search for the fourth casualty of the Vendee Globe singlehanded round-the-world race, the French Canadian Gerry Roufs, was abandoned yesterday, writes Stuart Alexander.He has not been picked up by satellite position logging system since last Tuesday.. Educationists and union leaders yesterday warned that an incoming Labour government would need to tackle the crisis of morale among teachers if education reforms were to succeed. Responding to the announcement by the Labour leader, Tony Blair, that an education Bill would be his party's priority legislation, they said the proposals paid too little attention to teachers' weariness of change and renewed warnings that Labour would have to commit more resources to make the changes a reality. Professor Peter Mortimore, director of London University's Institute of Education, said more money was needed to back up the party's warm words. He said: "This will be much more convincing if it is accompanied by additional resources. Just saying it is a priority is not enough."Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers, said that his members would welcome moves to reduce class sizes and introduce headteachers' qualifications.