An article in The Telegraph on the MP’s expenses scandal has the headline:
“Ben Bradshaw: Mortgage bill paid on home part-owned by boyfriend”
The blurb underneath explains:
“Ben Bradshaw, a junior health minister, switched his second home allowance to enable him to pay the full mortgage interest on a more expensive London terrace house he owned jointly with his civil partner.”
In the first paragraph we learn:
“The minister became the first MP to enter into a civil partnership when he went through a ceremony with Neal Dalgleish, a BBC journalist, in 2006. “
Now my question to The Telegraph is: Under what circumstances would you describe the spouse of a heterosexual Member of Parliament as their “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”?
When will we see stories about David Cameron and his girlfriend, Samantha? And imagine how much more saucy it could have been if The Telegraph could have reported that Jacqui Smith’s “boyfriend” had been charging porn films to ‘expenses’. But of course, this is a liberty with the truth they don’t take.
Why the double standards?
