It's ALWAYS the cover-up what does for them...

This morning Lord Browne, the former BP executive, woke up with his personal and professional lives and reputation in tatters.

He is not disgraced because he is gay - which he is.

He is not disgraced because of some business failing.

He is disgraced because he lied to a court.

He is also facing the loss of £15million - probably one of the most expensive lies ever told.

Browne told the court that he had met his exotically named ex-boyfriend Jeff Chevalier while jogging. In fact, he met him through an internet escort agency.

Many people in this busy day and age meet lovers online. Apart from the escort bit, Lord Browne was no different.

He was also probably embarrassed at people knowing that he had met his boyfriend on the internet and especially that he was a former rent boy. When the affair went sour Chevalier reverted to type and tried to sell his story to The Mail on Sunday.

It was not the fact that Lord Browne is gay that did for him; it was the cover-up of the circumstances of meeting Chevalier.

As Jonathan Aitken discovered it is the cover-up - or to put it bluntly the lie - that does for you, not the original "offence".

In the Navy

Thankfully, the 15 sailors and Marines captured in "Iranian" waters are home safely.

As the media debated on the rights and wrongs of a married mother of a small child on the frontline, what did amuse me was Faye Turney's rank. Even in these feminised, PC days she is still Leading SeaMAN Turney - oh, how that must have stuck in The Guardian's craw.