Sex scandals and politics hand in hand

Press, 5 April 1989, Page 43

Sex scandals and politics hand in hand

NZPA-AP London Power, Henry Kissinger once pronounced, is the great aphrodisiac. Followed, sometimes, by a hangover, exposure, regret, titillation for the masses. Recently, the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Bob Hawke, tearfully confessed to infidelity, Greek Premier Andreas Papandreou is in love with a woman half his age, and London’s tabloids throb with lurid tales of a comely but allegedly wanton aide in the House of Commons. But unlike Gary Hart or John Tower, politicians outside the United States usually survive the whiff of sex scandal. Some may even thrive on it. Italians thought Hart’s fling with Donna Rice was all to his credit, and the French are but mildly amused when the puppets on television’s “Bebete Show” joke about rumours that President Francois Mitterrand may be having a discreet affair. As for Tower, the allegations of womanising that helped prevent him from becoming Defence Secretary left most foreigners bemused. That kind of poking into private lives is simply unheard of in most countries. Even in Britain, where juicy sex scandals are a regular occurrence, Cecil Parkinson was restored to Cabinet rank just four years after having to quit over an extra-marital affair with his secretary that produced a child. Papandreou’s affair with Dimitra Liani seems to have damaged his popularity, but it pales into insignificance against the financial scandal that has engulfed his Government’ Papandreou, aged 70, has been living with the 34-yjar-old former stewardess since October,

when they returned from London where he had open-heart surgery. “I felt it was my duty not to be hypocritical and hide such a catalytic relationship . . . based; on a deep love which was finalised during . my recent ordeal in London when I was on the verge of death,” Papandreou told the French magazine, “Marie Claire,” earlier this year. The satirist, Lakis Lazopoulos, wondered aloud what a newcomer would think of seeing the couple arm-in-arm: "That there is a nice girl helping an old man cross the street” Papandreou last month filed for divorce from his American-born wife, Margaret, after a 37-year marriage. The Greek Press has worried about his health, because of his late-night appearances with Mrs Liani in restaurants and clubs; it questioned his judgment after he took her along to the European summit in December. Pamella Bordes, the present toast of the London tabloids and now hiding in Bali, dated politicians but none of any importance. So, even though she is claimed to have close links with a Libyan bigshot, the only political issue has been how she got security clearance to work in Parliament. The Bordes saga, in fact, followed a fresh raking up of that 26-year-old scandal, which brought down one Minister but not a Government. The War Minister, John Profumo, turned out to be sharing the favours of Miss Keeler with a Soviet diplomat. Profumo had to resign after lying to Parliament about his conduct, and has ever since been doing charitable works as a kind of penance. Nowadays, British Governments can take a sex scandal in stride?*