Oookay, I don’t know much about McGreevey, and much of what I have seen (not least some nasty tax increases, I seem to recall) I don’t like. What’s more I have absolutely no idea whether there are other revelations to come that would make it impossible for him to do his job, or unseemly for him to try. I do know, however, that, in and of themselves, his matrimonial difficulties should not be a resigning matter. Governor McGreevey has a great deal of explaining to do, certainly – but to his wife and to his daughters, not the voters. That his adulterous relationship was with a man should make absolutely no difference – in this respect at least.

Looking in more general terms, in the absence of grotesque hypocrisy or (and you know who I am talking about) a spot of perjury, I couldn’t care less about the sex lives of our politicians. What should matter is whether they can govern effectively, legitimately and honestly. So long as it’s legal, what they do in their bedrooms ought to be their business, not ours. When it comes to government, better the competent rake than the incompetent ’saint’. And to anyone who disagrees with that, I have only one thing to say.

Jimmy Carter.