Margaret Hodge will today issue a potentially humiliating apology to the man she dubbed an "extremely disturbed person".

On Friday Hodge attempted to stave off a libel action by apologising for comments she made about child abuse victim Demetrious Panton.

In a letter to Panton the children's minister apologised unreservedly for the slur and vowed never to be repeat it again.

Panton was abused in a local authority care home and later wrote to Hodge about his case during the period she served as leader of Islington Council.

He has agreed to drop libel action against the minister providing she issues a full public apology, makes a donation to charity and pays his legal costs.

But Panton will press ahead if the minister fails to meet his three demands by the end of today.

In a bid to end the row and avert a court battle Hodge is expected to make a full public apology.

But it is unlikely to quell calls for her resignation.

Over the weekend the Conservatives called on the prime minister to sack his children's minister.

Shadow health and education secretary Tim Yeo said Tony Blair should remove Hodge from her high profile post.

"The way she has behaved in the last few days is incompatible with her role as children's minister," he told Sky News.

The controversy had shown the "very poor judgment" of the minister responsible for the welfare of children

"I think if Tony Blair is serious about taking child abuse as an important issue he should sack her this week," Yeo said.

Speaking on Sunday Labour peer Lord Hattersley admitted the minister had been humiliated by the dispute. Writing to the BBC was "a very foolish thing to do", he added.

"I think she's vulnerable. She's not perhaps vulnerable in the short term, but she has to do a number of things which many individuals would regard as such a humiliation as to be too great to endure - or at least too great to endure in office," he said.