Gordon Brown’s buddy accused of ‘sex romp’

Just under three years since it was revealed that John Prescott, then deputy prime minister, had been cheating on his wife Pauline Prescott and enjoyed a long-running affair with his secretary Tracey Temple, Westminster has another sex scandal on its hands - if a report in the News of the World turns out to be accurate.

And this time the culprit is said to be one the Prime Minister's oldest friends - they once shared a flat, and Brown was best man at his wedding - Nigel Griffiths (pictured), MP for Edinburgh South.

Griffiths, 53, who has been married to his wife Sally Griffiths for 30 years, allegedly smuggled an unnamed brunette woman into his House of Commons office where they "frolicked" on the sofa. Photographs in the News of the World show Griffiths's "secret lover" dressed in suspender and stockings; a door key with a fob marked 'POW' - Palace of Westminster - is clearly visible.

What incensed the News of the World was that the alleged "sex romp" took place on the night of November 11 last year - just hours after senior politicians had attended the solemn Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph.

The paper claims it advised Griffiths more than a fortnight ago that it had solid photographic evidence of his misdemeanour and asked for an explanation. He has apparently refused to comment beyond branding their story "absolutely groundless".

But the paper is convinced that his behaviour breaches the strict Parliamentary Code of Conduct which demands that MPs behave themselves with decorum.

The News of the World's timing is impeccable, with the alleged scandal coming to light less than a fortnight after Max Mosley went before a Select Committee to discuss his set-to with the same paper last year, when they accused him of taking part in a Nazi-themed orgy, and he won £60,000 in damages for invasion of privacy.

As The First Post's Westminster Mole reported, Mosley's evidence was well received by the Select Committee and there is mounting speculation that many MPs would be in favour of clamping down on the tabloids' more intrusive tactics.

As the News of the World put it yesterday, "Such legislation could mean that newspapers who expose errant MPs misbehaving in their private life would be prosecuted."