17 JULY 2004, Page 26

A gay conception

From the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire Sir: It seems that our government is getting very odd; you could say queer. A Civil Part nership Bill is on the go. Clause 49(1)(c) provides that a civil partnership shall be voidable if 'at the time of its formation the respondent was pregnant by some person other than the applicant'. Good idea — we must keep some moral standards. Then you look back to see that Clause 3(1) requires the parties to a civil partnership to be of the same sex. These parties have got a job on for one of them to become pregnant, however fond they are of one another. But with this lot in Downing Street anything could happen.

Deborah Devonshire

Chatsworth, Derbyshire