The minister, Neil Hamilton, said he had Prime Minister John Major's full support and planned to stay on in his post.
Another junior minister, Tim Smith, resigned his portfolio Thursday after The Guardian alleged he and Hamilton took cash from retailing millionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed during Al-Fayed's battle in the 1980s to take over the exclusive London department store Harrods.
Hamilton, who is responsible for business probity at the Department of Trade and Industry, denied the charge.
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