Slamming the closet doors

Quite contrary

Oh! One does feel peculiar; Do you mean queer, dear?

Not at all, it wasn't a gay day, it rained cats and dogs.

That's a bit trite; one would say, quite a day to feel so ordinary.

It's a bit early

So, as I leafed through The Telegraph on Thursday morning after the fallout from Lord Browne's brush with the furious hell of a lover spurned; I guffawed as I read the second-hand tale of an interesting conversation.

Gyles Brandreth wrote in his diary in the Spectator; the following.

The telephone rang at 7.45 a.m. It was a journalist I know. She sounded tense. 'Gyles,' she said, 'do you want to come out?' 'It's a bit early, isn't it, darling?' I replied. 'I mean, "come out",' she said with emphasis, adding, with a little laugh, 'Everyone knows you're gay.' 'Do they?' I asked. 'Am I?' 'Oh, come on,' she persisted, 'Frankie Howerd made a pass at you once, didn't he?' 'Yes.' 'And you knew Ted Heath?' 'Er ... yes.' 'Well?' she said. I put the phone down. What is this bizarre obsession we have with the sexual orientation of others?

And that story continues ... He had to investigate to determine if Gordon Brown was gay - some people!

Keep away from my closet

Indeed, what is this bizarre obsession we have with the sexual orientation of others? Most especially that of homosexuals is referred to as coming out of the closet.

I have a closet, it is in my bedroom which is deep in my apartment; my home in not an open house, it is no business of anyone if I slept in my closet or in my bed. And if I did sleep in my closet and decide to come out in the morning, I do not expect to see a crowd in my bedroom or a snoop peeping through my 7^th floor window ready to sell a scoop to the village rag.

However, this colourful tale takes on a shade of pink as The Independent on Sunday published the Pink List 2007 of the celebrated and the successful few who have come of their closets - some probably waving their handbags, some screaming "look at me", but all in a position of never having to suffer the Lord Brownean white lie.

A liaison so discreet

Quite a few in the list would surprise you, but who cares if you like men or women as long are you are doing it behind closed doors and keeping the noise down - thankfully the floors and ceilings in my apartment block are concrete, it would have been insufferable - perish the thought.

More poignantly, the day before, I was reading the obituary of Sir Brian Smedley who died at 72 and was the presiding judge during the Matrix Churchill trial where the government of the day was ready to sacrifice people in legitimate and government-sanctioned business to the unforgivable pretensions of not selling arms to Iraq.

This case was thrown out when Alan Clark made the classic statement of being economical with the actualité in answering questions under oath about Iraqi arms policy.

The long obituary of an utterly distinguished and respected judge ended with the fact that he was survived by his partner of 38 years, Peter Wright.

Gone are the days when discretion was the better part of valour, Lord Browne was somewhat caught in that time warp, but when are you coming out? For dinner, I meant - The obsession remains bizarre.

Lies - Between human frailty and the law

Lying to protect - the unrecognised dilemma

Being economical with the truth or lying is something too many human beings do for one reason or another - many do think they can get away with it, but when they get caught it is never a good end result.

In the best of situations, the truth - honesty being the best policy - can come with some pain but your integrity, honour and respect is maintained, in the long run there might even be a reward.

When it comes to great men with much to protect, a reputation, a stake, a relationship or some circumstance, much as the luxury of being an observer makes one entreat the principal to come clean and be over with it, there are some extenuating circumstances that might prevent them for speaking the truth.

Sometimes, there is conflict, when dealing with the law; the truth is expected regardless of the situation, but when the issue touches on the very personal which could bring shame - the human dimension is lost whilst they who have never sinned rile the principal to derision.

This is no advocacy for lying, but put yourself in these two men's shoes.

Truth in a dress

Just about 10 years ago, a man of great importance in a long-term relationship coming to 20 years had been involved in some infidelity with an intern in his office. This improper relationship became the means by which he was assailed by his political enemies when he was asked if he had any sexual liaisons with the intern.

Now, an improper sexual relationship is not something you go and tell your wife like you just made a fantastic deal, in fact, the likelihood for any man caught in that kind of situation would be to completely deny that situation till the accuser can produce incontrovertible evidence, at which point, disgrace, dishonour and disdain are heaped on the principal as he apologises for a lying.

In this case, it was the sperm stains on the dress that caught him out, one could almost say that it as all planted to ensure that he was caught in a desperate situation. The man was Bill Clinton, the lady Monica Lewinsky and prosecutor Kenneth Stark - Mr. Clinton is the man making history, the other two who sought to bring him down do not have footnotes on those esteemed pages.

Mr. Clinton definitely should not have lied but if anyone asked you in his circumstances about an improper sexual liaison would have owned up in public?

Where did you meet?

More recently, a well-respected businessman had a relationship with a young Canadian that lasted four years. There is no doubt that the young man would have in that time grown accustomed to the style and status of his amazingly well-to-do spouse.

When the relationship ended, it would appear the wealthy businessman cut his ex-lover adrift, but having not made sufficient contingency for the welfare of his "discard", the young man in dire straits after entreaties to his ex-lover decided to monetarise the information about this relationship by selling his story to the tabloids.

Now, there was nothing improper about the relationship though it was homosexual and private, the business man being a closet gay man.

What amazes me about this whole situation is how the businessman's support infrastructure which usually is quite solid and disciplined allowed the situation to degenerate into that what we have now.

In trying to prevent the young man from selling the story, the businessman went to court and the question about where they met arose. Obviously, any respectable person would like to say they met their partner in some romantic setting; it has only become socially acceptable to say you met on some online dating site.

The businessman with a career and reputation to protect said he met the young man in Battersea - probably a gay cruising area - innocuous, but plausible, however, the young man who had nothing to lose said different; he met the businessman on a gay escort website.

Oops! Someone has been caught in a lie; the businessman on court documents - his undoing and this disgrace as this has now been exposed - a resignation with a loss of probably £20 million in payments where probably £1 million in a blackmail payment might just have kept this under wraps for another few years.

The businessman is Lord Browne who resigned as the Group CEO of BP yesterday, the young escort, Jeff Chevalier - time will tell how history would play this out. Lord Browne however could face perjury charges.

If asked and indeed you met your partner as a Pretty Woman, gigolo, on an escort website or some place of ill repute tell anyone that is where you met?

The law deals stridently with perjury, however, there has to be mitigating circumstances when it comes to what might be lies of passion.

Homosexuality, Achievement and poor relationships

The end of an era

I once worked for British Petroleum, as a contractor, in fact, I was invited back three times to work on a number of projects which were interesting, challenging and exciting in the late 90s.

One of the things I admired about BP was its strong IT centre, when decisions were made about the direction of IT for the global enterprise, they were doggedly followed through, I am yet to see an organisation where this kind of direction exists with excellence.

John Browne

John Browne had just been appointed the CEO and he was a mere Mr. then, and in 12 years he built the BP organisation with ambitious acquisitions, strategic partnerships and inspired leadership.

Unfortunately, the last 2 years at the helm of BP have not been the best for Lord Browne, accidents and mishaps in the United States began to gnaw into the great achievements of a well-respected global business leader.

Lord Browne at 59 is unmarried and there is no doubt that many would have wondered why, we all have lives we would like to keep secret and he was set to leave BP in July 2007.

What a shame

However, he has had to resign with immediate effect for having been economical with the actualité about a relationship with another man who falling on hard times decided to sell his story to a tabloid, which Lord Browne tried to prevent being published and failed.

Lord Browne, we can say is one of the many successful businessmen who have decided not to wear their sexuality on their sleeves, I am sure many knew but once the principal conducts themselves with all decorum, polite society is quite accepting of that situation.

The problem arises when a partnership or relationship exists between a very successful person and a less successful mate, we have seen many occasions where these never-do-well partners decide to cash in on the relationship when it breaks up hoping either to blackmail the principal or selling the story as salacious details to the tabloids.

Not a gay day at all

It is a shame that something so private can become so public and even threaten to end a very illustrious career.

Does a successful homosexual now have to decide between career and love?

How does one find a partnership where the old values of discretion, trustworthiness and honour trump any offer of filthy lucre?

Would being a closet homosexual preclude one from greater career opportunities if they are found out?

The last question is important because Lord Browne resigned so as not to cause any embarrassment to BP, implying a private homosexual life made public can be an embarrassment.

Do you talk to your spouse about work?

To crown it all, the cad Jeff Chevalier who seems to have been benefited from Lord Browne's influence as a subject of possible nepotism within BP said Lord Browne discussed confidential stuff with him - well, I would think people do discuss everything that happens in their lives even the most secret stuff at work with their spouses, regardless of if the spouse is heterosexual or homosexual - help me here - I am single.

The loss

Hopefully, this loss would not be a greater loss than that of a £5 million bonus and a possible £20 million share deal, Lord Browne is no poor urchin but he loses this because he had an unfortunate homosexual relationship with a man behind his station, class and stature - strangely, these archaic terms still matter if you are to keep your reputation, legacy and achievements from ignominy.

I am quite saddened that a 41-year career with BP ends in this way, but the great man in Lord Browne to see this issue through, one would not expect him to do anything silly, he would go on to greater heights and we all know that BP would not have been the name and brand it is today with the inspired leadership and visionary direction of Lord John Browne - Baron Browne of Madingley.