Family ripped apart (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Family ripped apart

3:07pm Thursday 21st September 2006 in Letters

Since your newspaper publicised the adulterous affair conducted between James Gray MP and my wife, I have been invited to comment to numerous national newspapers and other media. I have refused to do so.

However, some of the comments made by the MP for North Wiltshire in your newspaper demand comment.

First, he says that he deeply regrets "the pain and suffering I have caused". This pain and suffering will continue for decades as my children adjust to having parents 125 miles apart. If this is a genuine sentiment, why did the man not make any effort to terminate the relationship during its 19-month course? Many of us have to make difficult choices which do not always suit our own selfish ends.

Second, he seeks to blame the "pressures of parliamentary life" for conducting an extra-marital relationship. Many hard-working spouses are away from home for long periods. A significant number travel abroad weekly. Such people manage to resist the temptation to flash their parliamentary passes or make passes at attractive women. In my view, this clichd excuse is overused and totally meaningless. It suggests that there is one moral code for members of parliament and another for the rest of us.

Third, he pompously says that "some political opponents may call for me to resign, but that is to seek to take party political advantage out of somebody else's private life". In 18 years at the Criminal Bar, I have never read such sanctimonious, self-serving drivel. To call it spin is to insult even Peter Mandelson. Given Mr Gray's treatment of his own locally-popular wife (let alone my family), there must be a large body of staunch Conservative voters who would love to be able to vote for a decent and faithful candidate, rather than the one they have got. In other words, many calls for him to resign may well emanate from his own party and not from politcal opponents.

The irony is that I will not reap the benefits of Mr Cameron's excellent family-based policy proposals because one of his own MPs has ripped my own family apart.

I hope that the local constituency association will take deep soundings before putting this man forward to defend North Wiltshire at the next election.

R Mayo.

London