There used to be a time (fuddy-duddy alert) when elected public servants would resign when their extra-marital affairs became public knowledge. I remember Cecil Parkinson resigning after his affair with Sara Keays and her pregnancy was made public in 1983. There was, however, much made of the letters of support he supposedly received and Edwina Currie, who herself famously had an affair with John Major, stated her support by saying "I fell very, very sorry for Cecil and his family Most of my thoughts on Sara Keays are unprintable. Perhaps the most polite thing to say is she's a right cow." I wonder if she thoughtfully told Cecil of her qualms about the suitability of Ms Keays as a lover or if she voiced any concern for his family before the news broke.
Not ten years later a media storm broke over the affair Paddy Ashdown, then leader of the Liberal Democrats, had with his secretary, Patricia Howard, which earned him the nickname Paddy Pantsdown. His career and marriage survived and I remember talk at the time of whether extra-marital affairs SHOULD bring down a politician or if it was simply, excuse the pun, a private affair. The general consensus, I seem to recall, was that it was private and they should carry on with their lives and careers. Ashdown's wife forgave him and so should we. Since then it seems the general feeling has continued to support the view that it is private, if regrettable behaviour.
It may seem old-fashioned but I do believe that public servants need to meet and be held to high standards. In standing for elected office I expect them to perform their duties conscientiously, responsibly, truthfully and with the interests of their constituents and the general public at the forefront of their decision-making. If these qualities are not evident in their private lives how can we trust they are available in their public lives?
Few, if any, of these qualities are evident in the current government. Matt Hancock, teh former Health Secretary, has actually resigned after news and video evidence of his affair surfaced. He held one of the senior offices of State but somehow could not bring himself to tell his wife that he wanted to move on. He could not make a tough decision to end his marriage while starting and continuing a relationship with someone else. I dare say, there were lies told to his family to cover up his indiscretions and betrayal. His wife and three children, old enough to understand what has happened, deserve to be allowed to come to terms with his betrayal in private but he needed to resign be sacked immediately.
He has resigned, eventually, but for the supposed offence of ‘breaking the rules.’ Breaking the rules of social distancing in a pandemic are so low on the list of his offences! His department was caught napping at the beginning of the pandemic, he catastrophically failed to prevent care home deaths and botched the procurement of adequate PPE for our NHS. If a questionable source (Cumming) is to be believed, Hancock has also lied to Cabinet and the country. And now our morally bankrupt Prime Minister has allowed the Health Secretary to resign over breaking social distancing regulations, not even for the reprehensible behaviour of having an affair with a woman he had appointed as a non executive director of the Department he was in charge of!
Morality and duty are words that seem to have fallen out of fashion. In our secular society it has perhaps lost its meaning and impact because of previous religious connotations and yet its definition as ‘principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour’ should still have a central place in modern society. Duty, as ‘a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility’ similarly conjures a more shared obligation to each other than our individualistic modern world might allow. I don’t want to be an old fuddy-duddy, harking back to a ‘better’ time but I do think that the principles of morality and duty are central to our lives in an ordered and well-functioning society…and are so evidently missing in the highest offices of the land. Morality and duty are not among the seven principles of public life which are accepted as selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. They wouldn’t be a bad place to start though.
