The past few weeks have seen some very high-profile sex scandals in the world of politics. France seems to have been the worst affected.
In only a matter of weeks, Prominent Socialist and former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Junior Minister for Civil Service George Tron resigned after having been implicated in sex and sleaze.
Strauss-Kahn, who had a reputation of being a womaniser for years, finally got his come-uppance when a hotel maid reported him for trying to rape her in a New York hotel. He was given the march of shame in front of the cameras. Needless to say, the former IMF head has lost it all. He was very likely poised to be the next French President, but has thrown it all away.
George Tron resigned after prosecutors filed charges against him for sexually harassing a civil servant at the Town Hall where he is mayor. He allegedly used offers of foot massage therapy to catapult himself towards sex and molestation, two women who worked for him say.
The news which broke out yesterday was of another former French Minister who was allegedly caught in Morocco in an orgy with a lot of (very) young boys. The claims were made by French philosopher Luc Ferry on a TV show. Mr Ferry is a former French government minister. He said he had information right from the very top of the current French administration, claiming that a member of the French Cabinet had gone to Marrakesh, specifically in search of sex with minors. He told the show that everyone probably knew who it was, but France’s very tough libel laws would end up making him an accused.
Mr Ferry’s claims come two years after a scandal involving Frédéric Mitterrand, the French culture minister, who admitted to having sex with Thai male prostitutes in an autobiography. He later said his actions were a “mistake” and his book was not “an apology for sex tourism”. Still in office, Mr Mitterrand is not thought to be the minister referred to by Mr Ferry.
Some might say that there is a gulf between sex scandals in Europe (and France in particular) and the United States. But it’s not the case. It is merely a consequence of people’s (particularly women’s) empowerment and the refusal to let people who are in power ‘get away with it’. To demonstrate that these things happen on both sides of the pond, a delightful headline was splashed all over the US networks yesterday, ‘Did Anthony Weiner tweet a picture of his weiner?’ The US Congressman is alleged to have taken a photograph of his, to use the same term, weiner, and posted it on the Twitter photo upload boards. It was then also streamed in his Tweet feed. The post was deleted, but not before several screen grabs were taken and made it to the news.
It seems that while Malta is mired in controversy over Church and state, we have been spared such sleaze. There have been a few occasions where behaviour of local politicians has raised eyebrows, but thankfully, we are spared the sex and the filth. Although these cases mentioned above are notable, however, no one could ever beat the ‘Minister of Fun’, David Mellor. The famous kiss and tell story revealed his extra marital affair with an actress. He survived in office, but eventually resigned after it was revealed that he had accepted free holidays from members of the PLO and the ruler of Abu Dhabi. Sex it seems, one can sometimes get away with, but accepting holidays is another matter entirely. Just ask former French Minister Michele Alliot-Marie. Accepting a holiday paid for by Tunisia’s Ben Ali regime led to her resignation a few weeks later.