MIKE Foster has been flooded with "fan mail" from Radio Four listeners this week.

The MP apparently had fans of the Today programme choking on their museli with a vintage Yes, Minister performance during the Margaret Hodge child abuse scandal.

Mike - who would have lost his own job as a Parliamentary aide if Kids Minister Mrs Hodge had been forced to quit - was left with little option but to appear on Today when he was called by producers in the early hours of last Friday.

(The rather underhand trick employed by journalists is to threaten to say, on air, "We asked x to appear on the programme, but he refused" - giving the impression he or she has something to hide.)

But Mike steadfastly refused to speak about the phrase used by Mrs Hodge which caused so much trouble - she had labelled abuse victim Demetrious Panton "extremely disturbed".

For a whole six minutes, the programme's presenter tried to extract a damaging quote from Mike, who has been Mrs Hodge's Parliamentary Private Secretary since 2001.

But all he would talk about was the Minister's achievements over the past couple of years and how the furore shouldn't overshadow the valuable work being done to improve children's services.

Afterwards, Mike's e-mail in-box was very busy.

He said: "I don't think I have ever had quite so much fan mail.

"Mostly, they said things like: "Why don't you just answer the question', that sort of thing.

"One guy suggested he had reason to complain as he had a link to Worcester - he said he'd once visited."

Mrs Hodge, who had looked a dead certainty to be forced out at one stage last week, survived by admitting she had made a big mistake.

She made an extremely public apology to Mr Panton and agreed to pay his legal costs and make a significant contribution to charity.