OP-ED: Affairs of state

Can public figures be entitled to a private life?
One of the few things to distract the British public from the football or the tennis at Wimbledon this week has been the resignation of a cabinet minister from the government after what was called a “sex scandal.” It raises, once again, that thorny old moral dilemma as to whether a politician or indeed anyone in public life is entitled to a private life.

The question stems from the luckless (and now former) secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock, who was caught on CCTV kissing and groping one of his female aides. Both Hancock and the woman at the centre of the scandal, Gina Coladangelo, are married to other people and have three children each.