revealed that he had taken a holiday in Barbados in the company of a 20-year-old man. At that time, the age of consent for same-sex male relationships was still 21 (it was due to be reduced to 18 later in 1994). Brown subsequently acknowledged his sexuality, becoming the second openly gay MP. In his diaries, Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth wrote of this revelation: On 10 July 1994, Parliamentary Private Secretaries David Tredinnick and Graham Riddick resigned after being caught by The Sunday Times taking cash in exchange for asking Parliamentary questions. On 20 October 1994, Tim Smith resigned as Northern Ireland minister after being accused by The Guardian of accepting cash for asking Parliamentary questions on behalf of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. Smith admitted the allegations. On 25 October 1994, Neil Hamilton resigned as minister for regulation and corporate affairs over the cash-for-questions affair. Unlike Smith, Hamilton denied taking money and gifts from Al-Fayed and vowed to sue his accusers in court. On 10 November 1994 the Pergau Dam case was decided. Back in the Thatcher years Britain had provided aid money to Malaysia to build the Pergau Dam allegedly as part of a quid pro quo for favourable business deals. The court found that Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd had not been legally entitled to supply the funds, as the economic viability of the project had not been proven. 1995 On 8 February 1995, Under-Secretary of State for Scotland Allan Stewart resigned from the Scottish Office after waving a pickaxe at an anti-motorway protester. Later, in 1997, he also resigned his position of MP after allegations of an affair. On 6 March 1995, Robert Hughes resigned as Minister responsible for the Citizen's Charter over an affair with a constituency worker who had come to him for help from an abusive relationship. Hughes confessed the affair and resigned when he believed that the liaison was about to be exposed in a Sunday newspaper. On 9 April 1995, Richard Spring resigned as a Parliamentary Private Secretary after a News of the World sting allegedly caught him in a "three in a bed sex romp" with a male acquaintance and the acquaintance's girlfriend. The fact that Spring was single at the time raised accusations that the paper was conducting an unwarranted intrusion into his private life. On 10 April 1995, Jonathan Aitken resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in order to sue