Simon Hughes

[Lord Bracknell]

Keeler and Profumo? Or was that more to do with national security than sex?

Profumo's downfall was all to do with the fact that Keeler was also sleeping with Eugene Ivanov, a naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy. Not a sensible woman to get involved with, if you were Secretary of State for War.

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was fairly relaxed about adultery. With his knowledge, his wife had an affair with Robert Boothby MP that went on for years.

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

That's exactly why they don't like it! Look at Scott Mills, the Radio 1 DJ. He came out quite a while ago and made a point of telling the papers. No story there then. It's the same for other openly gay celebrities who don't lie about it.

I don't know if the papers dig for these stories, or if people just phone up with the offer of a story. Let's be honest, if someone phones a newsdesk with a verifiable (yep, verifiable Piers Morgan) story, then the paper would be silly to pass it on to a rival. The NoTW have a long history of sensationalist headlining, so I would assume that people think that they will pay the best for a story like this.

Hughes came out, not through some crisis of morals or amazing leadership skills, but because his press office had been told of stories that would break, in particular the gay sex chat line one. He doesn't deserve any credit, because if he had any morals he would have come out years ago, or would have come out at the same time as Oaten was forced out as a show of solidarity. Would have got him far more credit than being kicked out of the closet for being a phone sex addict.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

I think the latest revalations are just another example of the Lib Dems trying to take over the ground traditionally occupied by the Tories.