I like Hague, always thought he had the potential to be the most impressive of all the politicians around in the last decade, and that it was a shame he came to leadership at the wrong time, and that his appearance goes against him at a time where it appears image is just as important as policies.
Think he was silly bringing immediate credibilty to something that was vague and minimal internet talk by panicking and jumping in with two feet, thought he would have been a bit more savvy than that. Equally uncomfortable with the revealing of the private stuff between him and his wife, i'm of the school that personal things of this nature stay fully in house. I wouldn't even tell friends let alone the public.
Don't really give a damn whether he dabbles both ways or not, and hate the intrusion the modern media and internet can cause to people in the public eye, but i don't think he has since handled the incident very well at all.
thing is, okay he hasn't handled it well and maybe he shouldn't have said anything but he would have been damned if he did and damned if he didn't. If he didn't the rumours would have persisited and got louder so he tried to nip it in the bud but all it did was bring it to a wider audience. As said surely the real issue is an appointment of a friend to a job he didn't need. Don't care if he gay or a martian. Feel for his wife who has been caught up in all this through no fault of her own. Hope they can move on and finally be able to have the child they so desperately crave.
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]There seems to be a lot of sympathy on here for Hague in respect of the sex/infidelity side of the story. Whose business is it if he is gay or was unfathful to his wife/it is between him and his wife/it is an invasion of his private life/it shows what a rotten and puerile press we have in this country etc etc.
I don't remember these sentiments been expressed when equally puerile and 'not in the public interest' stories were been published about the private lives of John Terry and Ashley Cole a few months ago.
I agree but a few people on here, me included, did say just that.
How many people on here were actually aware of the 'Hague is gay' rumours on the internet. I know i wasn't and i'm sure many others weren't. But it's Hague himself who has brought it into the public domain now.
If anything he said in his statement is found to be untrue he will be ripped apart and his career over so as Airman said you have to assume that as a clever chap and a good politician he is telling the truth.
Sorry to dredge this up but young Willlie has been prone to exageration before........ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/872280.stm
Perhaps someone so keen to prove there 'manhood' or what they think passes for it, may have a difficulty with there sexuality.
Interesting to see that Max Clifford was dragged out to give a quote!, although hardly a ringing endorsement.
Did not Harry Enfield base his character 'Tory boy' on Hague and his performances at the party conferences........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EucJIl0uonE&p=4B3C6EBFC375F33D&playnext=1&index=37
The press wouldn't have touched this story without the internet. Hague stood it up for them by making his statement.
Who knows or cares whether he's gay. But creating an extra government post - he already has the two standard special advisers - from public money for his underqualified mate is foolish at best.
If the evidence is out there he's finished, regardless of his ability. You have to assume he isn't that daft. Airman Brown
Agreed airman........How did politicians ever survive without 'political advisors' Airman.... In the case of Wilson and co give them an honour maybe!.
[cite]Posted By: Floyd Montana[/cite]The statement came AFTER a couple of National papers published the internet rumours, didnt it?
Sort of. A paper had hinted at it but Hague wasn't named.
"The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Saturday that a Cabinet minister was ready to take legal action to halt the baseless rumours about his private life. This could take the form of an injunction to prevent publication, or a threat to sue if the false stories appeared in mainstream media.
Mr Hague was not named in that story but chose to deny the allegations publicly on Tuesday afternoon after Guido Fawkes claimed on his influential blog that the senior Tory and Mr Myers had “shared a hotel room” during the general election campaign.
The story did not include any evidence but just a statement that an unnamed witness claimed “the couple’s body language at breakfast was eye opening”.
Shortly after the story was published online, one of Mr Hague's team issued the statement insisting that his relationship with Mr Myers was "purely professional".
So the way i see it is if Hague hadn't released his statement pretty much all of us wouldn't even know about it.
Well as many of you precious luvvies on here are want to state, "you don't agree with his politics but......." for the record I do agree with his politics and ditto to much of what else has been said on here. To my way of thinking you have to be a particularly peculiar type of person with their own head up their own arse to be in modern politics anyway. The whole process of getting elected certainly above a local level today has been proven to be self serving and a career of choice and for profit. Gone are the days of the great orators and reformers that gave us our modern day country. Now they were men who went into politics to change the world we all live in. Todays bunch, left right and in the middle are fair game for our media. This after all is a media that the public have created on demand, as has been said here already.
As for getting his mate a job, feck me who was Mandelson or Sugars best mate?
[cite]Posted By: soapy_jones[/cite]Well as many of you precious luvvies on here are want to state, "you don't agree with his politics but......." for the record I do agree with his politics and ditto to much of what else has been said on here. To my way of thinking you have to be a particularly peculiar type of person with their own head up their own arse to be in modern politics anyway. The whole process of getting elected certainly above a local level today has been proven to be self serving and a career of choice and for profit. Gone are the days of the great orators and reformers that gave us our modern day country. Now they were men who went into politics to change the world we all live in. Todays bunch, left right and in the middle are fair game for our media. This after all is a media that the public have created on demand, as has been said here already.
As for getting his mate a job, feck me who was Mandelson or Sugars best mate?
Er, that's kind of the whole point, isn't it?
The Tories hammered away at Labour's "cronyism" very effectively and yet within four months of being elected one of their senior and most experienced ministers is handing out jobs to his mates at a time when people are doing it tough.
Cameron must be absolutely furious at the way Hague has trashed the Honeymoon period and attached the stigma of sleaze to the Tories once again after he spent so long trying to banish the memories of Mellor, Hamilton et al.
As a staunch fighter for Gay Rights for many years, I cannot understand how Mr. Hague has got away with calling a homosexual affair, alleged or otherwise, "inappropriate"!
And Labour hammered away at the conservatives....when they were last in power. I am sure even the shambles that reconstitutes itself as an opposition after their leadership election will go full pelt at this government of convenience, as they should do. My main point was, what does anyone reasonably expect from any politician of any persuasion nowadays ? I have set my expectations very low I am afraid.
[cite]Posted By: Chirpy Red[/cite]As a staunch fighter for Gay Rights for many years, I cannot understand how Mr. Hague has got away with calling a homosexual affair, alleged or otherwise, "inappropriate"!
Where is Peter Tatchell when you need him?
Now, that's a good line.
Last I heard of Tatchell he was still on a death wish chasing Robert Mugabe around Zimbabwe trying to get old bastard to improve his gay rights record......that could be quite a tricky job.
Saga, I was trying to flippantly redress the balance of this board, which I have found in the past to have had a left lean in its opinions at best. I agree with Conservative politics and was advertising that fact, just as many of the people in the thread have claimed and stated their political preference.
People ask does it matter what politicians do in their private lives?
In my view the answer to that question is "YES." They choose to place themselves in the public domain and take decisions affecting the rest of us. If they lack honesty, fidelity and integrity in their private lives then, in my view there is a high probability they will act similarly in their public lives which is unacceptable.
Please note I am talking about politicians generally.
[cite]Posted By: Chirpy Red[/cite]As a staunch fighter for Gay Rights for many years, I cannot understand how Mr. Hague has got away with calling a homosexual affair, alleged or otherwise, "inappropriate"!
Where is Peter Tatchell when you need him?
well it's inappropriate in the context that he is married so any affair, gay or otherwise, is inappropriate.
I actually thinkthat Orms original post was well balanced and thought provoking, with a little wit re. cap & 't'. I don't know how anybody can not see that. He even stated that he did not care about his private life.
Personally for me there the two main issues were inlamatory remarks on the internet and employing an unqualified person at the public expense. The main issue will now change as the press dig deeper.
Interesting post earlier about WH having enemies within his own party. One Nation Tories won the election, I wonder if the old guard lets them keep it.
I actually think this board has more of a right wing lean to it.
[cite]Posted By: soapy_jones[/cite]Saga, I was trying to flippantly redress the balance of this board, which I have found in the past to have had a left lean in its opinions at best. I agree with Conservative politics and was advertising that fact, just as many of the people in the thread have claimed and stated their political preference.
No you weren't - you were calling me a "precious luvvie", for some strange reason. Can't see what that has to do with politics.
[cite]Posted By: Chirpy Red[/cite]As a staunch fighter for Gay Rights for many years, I cannot understand how Mr. Hague has got away with calling a homosexual affair, alleged or otherwise, "inappropriate"!
Where is Peter Tatchell when you need him?
Here he is-
It was not shameful or undignified for William Hague to deny that he has ever had a relationship with a man or an "improper relationship" with Chris Myers. I assume Hague's denials are true, and given the mounting speculation, his frankness was justified, necessary and honest. Nevertheless, denying an "improper" relationship is not the same as denying a relationship. Moreover, Hague may not regard a fling as a relationship, in much the same way that Bill Clinton played semantics with the meaning of sex when quizzed about the Monica Lewinsky affair. But since there is no evidence of any fling, whether proper or improper, it's time to stop the gossip.
Of course, if he was having a gay affair behind his wife's back, that would be a betrayal of trust. I would feel great sympathy for Ffion. Such a deception would damage his reputation for integrity and trust. But the damage would not be significantly more or less than if he had an affair with a female adviser. It would be the act of betrayal, not the gender of his partner, that would generate the strongest public reaction.
In 2010, most British people are pretty relaxed about gay MPs and cabinet ministers. We are more concerned about their policies than their private lives. And rightly so. What they do in private has no bearing on the public welfare. There have been plenty of gay people at the top of UK government, and at lower ministerial level, for more than a decade, including Peter Mandelson, Chris Smith, Nick Brown, Ben Bradshaw, Angela Eagle and Chris Bryant. The current vice-chair of the Tory party, Margot James MP, is an out lesbian. She and others show that being openly gay is no longer a bar to election and to promotion to high office.
Sort of. A paper had hinted at it but Hague wasn't named.
"The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Saturday that a Cabinet minister was ready to take legal action to halt the baseless rumours about his private life. This could take the form of an injunction to prevent publication, or a threat to sue if the false stories appeared in mainstream media.
Mr Hague was not named in that story but chose to deny the allegations publicly on Tuesday afternoon after Guido Fawkes claimed on his influential blog that the senior Tory and Mr Myers had “shared a hotel room” during the general election campaign.
The story did not include any evidence but just a statement that an unnamed witness claimed “the couple’s body language at breakfast was eye opening”.
Shortly after the story was published online, one of Mr Hague's team issued the statement insisting that his relationship with Mr Myers was "purely professional".
So the way i see it is if Hague hadn't released his statement pretty much all of us wouldn't even know about it.
I thought the Mail on Sunday "broke" the story after Guido had been going on about it on his blog.
1. Where has the term beard come from? Other than the fluff on a blokes chin.
2. How come hague has not been able to take the same sort of "cloqaking" action that three premiership footballers have apparently taken recently to hide their identities.
3. I woudl not say this board leans to the left or right, there are some leftist and rightist views expressed from time to time but generasllyn speaking the board like the nation occupies the cetntre ground.
4. Some one mentioned the aide was gay, has this actually been reported or is that an assumption.
5. Hague got his cap and shirt from Clone Zone in Soho.
You have to laugh how long ago is it the Guardianistas on here were screaming their heads off defending Sol Campbell for taking out court cases against people who slagged him off on a footie field for being gay---- but the very same people are now "outing" Hague for being Gay.
I shared a room with my brotherinlaw for a week whilst on an overseas aid mission , does that make me gay as well?
Amazing how the press can try to control / twist peoples opinions
My brotherinlaw also doesn't have any kids , does that mean his marriage is a sham? i don't think so , he would love to have kids.
Why this is in the publics interest , shows why this country is so screwed up, there are bigger things to sort out , like why we can spend money on flash hospitals , but not afford to have air conditioning in them, or have locks working in the toilets?
Sorry thats not the most serious thing , its a form of annoyance really , lack of cancer drugs gets my goat!
[cite]Posted By: Goonerhater[/cite]You have to laugh how long ago is it the Guardianistas on here were screaming their heads off defending Sol Campbell for taking out court cases against people who slagged him off on a footie field for being gay---- but the very same people are now "outing" Hague for being Gay.
He's being outed on here?? I hadn't noticed and I thought it was the Torygraph that jumped in before the Grauniad.
Trying to be politically neutral, I think the fact that he shared a room with his aide doesn't mean much. If he wanted to hide it as he surely would have, you would have thought they would have booked 2 rooms and used 1. Footballers still share rooms, that doesn't mean anything. He should have answered as above, but the way he has reacted has fuelled the story and it does make you question his judgement. Still, I don't think it is something he should resign over. Blunkett and Prescott had affairs as I seem to remember and the gay nature should be neither here nor there.
Comments
Think he was silly bringing immediate credibilty to something that was vague and minimal internet talk by panicking and jumping in with two feet, thought he would have been a bit more savvy than that. Equally uncomfortable with the revealing of the private stuff between him and his wife, i'm of the school that personal things of this nature stay fully in house. I wouldn't even tell friends let alone the public.
Don't really give a damn whether he dabbles both ways or not, and hate the intrusion the modern media and internet can cause to people in the public eye, but i don't think he has since handled the incident very well at all.
I agree but a few people on here, me included, did say just that.
If anything he said in his statement is found to be untrue he will be ripped apart and his career over so as Airman said you have to assume that as a clever chap and a good politician he is telling the truth.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/872280.stm
Perhaps someone so keen to prove there 'manhood' or what they think passes for it, may have a difficulty with there sexuality.
Interesting to see that Max Clifford was dragged out to give a quote!, although hardly a ringing endorsement.
Did not Harry Enfield base his character 'Tory boy' on Hague and his performances at the party conferences........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EucJIl0uonE&p=4B3C6EBFC375F33D&playnext=1&index=37
The press wouldn't have touched this story without the internet. Hague stood it up for them by making his statement.
Who knows or cares whether he's gay. But creating an extra government post - he already has the two standard special advisers - from public money for his underqualified mate is foolish at best.
If the evidence is out there he's finished, regardless of his ability. You have to assume he isn't that daft. Airman Brown
Agreed airman........How did politicians ever survive without 'political advisors' Airman.... In the case of Wilson and co give them an honour maybe!.
Sort of. A paper had hinted at it but Hague wasn't named.
"The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Saturday that a Cabinet minister was ready to take legal action to halt the baseless rumours about his private life. This could take the form of an injunction to prevent publication, or a threat to sue if the false stories appeared in mainstream media.
Mr Hague was not named in that story but chose to deny the allegations publicly on Tuesday afternoon after Guido Fawkes claimed on his influential blog that the senior Tory and Mr Myers had “shared a hotel room” during the general election campaign.
The story did not include any evidence but just a statement that an unnamed witness claimed “the couple’s body language at breakfast was eye opening”.
Shortly after the story was published online, one of Mr Hague's team issued the statement insisting that his relationship with Mr Myers was "purely professional".
So the way i see it is if Hague hadn't released his statement pretty much all of us wouldn't even know about it.
As for getting his mate a job, feck me who was Mandelson or Sugars best mate?
Er, that's kind of the whole point, isn't it?
The Tories hammered away at Labour's "cronyism" very effectively and yet within four months of being elected one of their senior and most experienced ministers is handing out jobs to his mates at a time when people are doing it tough.
Cameron must be absolutely furious at the way Hague has trashed the Honeymoon period and attached the stigma of sleaze to the Tories once again after he spent so long trying to banish the memories of Mellor, Hamilton et al.
What the feck does that mean?!
Where is Peter Tatchell when you need him?
Now, that's a good line.
Last I heard of Tatchell he was still on a death wish chasing Robert Mugabe around Zimbabwe trying to get old bastard to improve his gay rights record......that could be quite a tricky job.
In my view the answer to that question is "YES." They choose to place themselves in the public domain and take decisions affecting the rest of us. If they lack honesty, fidelity and integrity in their private lives then, in my view there is a high probability they will act similarly in their public lives which is unacceptable.
Please note I am talking about politicians generally.
well it's inappropriate in the context that he is married so any affair, gay or otherwise, is inappropriate.
Personally for me there the two main issues were inlamatory remarks on the internet and employing an unqualified person at the public expense. The main issue will now change as the press dig deeper.
Interesting post earlier about WH having enemies within his own party. One Nation Tories won the election, I wonder if the old guard lets them keep it.
I actually think this board has more of a right wing lean to it.
No you weren't - you were calling me a "precious luvvie", for some strange reason. Can't see what that has to do with politics.
Don't get touchy. However, if you are one of those, i stand by my original comment ;-)
Here he is-
It was not shameful or undignified for William Hague to deny that he has ever had a relationship with a man or an "improper relationship" with Chris Myers. I assume Hague's denials are true, and given the mounting speculation, his frankness was justified, necessary and honest. Nevertheless, denying an "improper" relationship is not the same as denying a relationship. Moreover, Hague may not regard a fling as a relationship, in much the same way that Bill Clinton played semantics with the meaning of sex when quizzed about the Monica Lewinsky affair. But since there is no evidence of any fling, whether proper or improper, it's time to stop the gossip.
Of course, if he was having a gay affair behind his wife's back, that would be a betrayal of trust. I would feel great sympathy for Ffion. Such a deception would damage his reputation for integrity and trust. But the damage would not be significantly more or less than if he had an affair with a female adviser. It would be the act of betrayal, not the gender of his partner, that would generate the strongest public reaction.
In 2010, most British people are pretty relaxed about gay MPs and cabinet ministers. We are more concerned about their policies than their private lives. And rightly so. What they do in private has no bearing on the public welfare. There have been plenty of gay people at the top of UK government, and at lower ministerial level, for more than a decade, including Peter Mandelson, Chris Smith, Nick Brown, Ben Bradshaw, Angela Eagle and Chris Bryant. The current vice-chair of the Tory party, Margot James MP, is an out lesbian. She and others show that being openly gay is no longer a bar to election and to promotion to high office.
I thought the Mail on Sunday "broke" the story after Guido had been going on about it on his blog.
2. How come hague has not been able to take the same sort of "cloqaking" action that three premiership footballers have apparently taken recently to hide their identities.
3. I woudl not say this board leans to the left or right, there are some leftist and rightist views expressed from time to time but generasllyn speaking the board like the nation occupies the cetntre ground.
4. Some one mentioned the aide was gay, has this actually been reported or is that an assumption.
5. Hague got his cap and shirt from Clone Zone in Soho.
Amazing how the press can try to control / twist peoples opinions
My brotherinlaw also doesn't have any kids , does that mean his marriage is a sham? i don't think so , he would love to have kids.
Why this is in the publics interest , shows why this country is so screwed up, there are bigger things to sort out , like why we can spend money on flash hospitals , but not afford to have air conditioning in them, or have locks working in the toilets?
Sorry thats not the most serious thing , its a form of annoyance really , lack of cancer drugs gets my goat!
He's being outed on here?? I hadn't noticed and I thought it was the Torygraph that jumped in before the Grauniad.
rimming is curious what he is being accused of is full on ;-)