I have to say I feel sorry for the Hagues and Chris Myers over the ‘gay affair story. Is it really all that strange to share a room with a colleague? Politicians are damned if they spend tax payers money too lavishly and who knows, maybe he just likes the bonhomie of another man’s company. The reason for me writing about it, however, is his statement. Why did William Hague provide quite that amount of detail about his marriage?
In his 535 word statement, 231 words were devoted to details of the Hague’s attempts to have children:
“I have made no secret of the fact that Ffion and I would love to start a family. For many years this has been our goal. Sadly this has proved more difficult for us than for most couples. We have encountered many difficulties and suffered multiple miscarriages, and indeed are still grieving for the loss of a pregnancy this summer. We are aware that the stress of infertility can often strain a marriage, but in our case, thankfully, it has only brought us closer together. It has been an immensely traumatic and painful experience but our marriage is strong and we will face whatever the future brings together.”
With my cynical PR hat on, I’d say that this is a classic distraction tactic, designed to put the media off the scent. By giving them another story – his difficulties trying to start a family – they’ll stop speculating about his sexuality. Alternatively, he might be just trying to get the media to sympathise with him (Brown was given a lot more slack after he lost a child, for example), but I can’t see that being the case.
Personally, I think his response is likely to whip the media up even more (I’m expecting pictures of him doing judo with Seb Coe next). To me, the more likely explanation is that he simply really did want to put the record straight. I guess it’s possible he’s gay, but I don’t really care. But in the age of blogs – the story broke on Guido Fawkes – it’s sure to play out in the online world as well as the traditional media.
Remember the ‘I can drink ten pints of beer, me’ incident during his ill-fated stint as opposition leader? The man has history with this sort of tactic. Effectively what he’s saying in his latest excruciating admission is that he shags a lot, albeit with the purpose of procreation in mind. These overt displays of machismo suggest that the press may be right.
The saddest element of all is that the poor guy’s forever running away from the truth; but will anyone truly damn him if he does come clean (as it were)? Always end with a smutty innuendo….
Hmm, a bit drastic for his right-hand man to quit if there wasn’t anything to the rumours – and you know what they say about smoke and fire…
Yes, the there’s no smoke without fire line. And you could both be right (I remember once having a dinner with the political editor of a national newspaper and the stuff he told me about Blair’s kids and Dianna was quite a surprise; most of it is horse-traded), but I’m not entirely sure in this case. Surely, something would have emerged about Myers past by now?
Whatever the truth, I liked The Media Blog’s follow up.