First piece of celebrity gossip on Liberal Polemic (Shock! Horror! Probe)

It’s not often you get to meet two celebrities in a single day, but today was clearly my lucky day!
Having spent an agonising five days not blogging due to a rigorous weekend celebrating a friend’s birthday in the New Forest followed by being obliged to work as though I was being paid for it (which, to be fair, I am), I decided to spend a night with friends at that most salubrious of venues, the Lord Moon on the Mall (aka. the last refuge of the Cabinet Office employee with only a fiver left before pay day).

Now I’ve always thought I’d avoid the urge to approach the famous when they appear at the bar. But then by famous I was usually thinking of Jade Goody or that guy off The Bill. But today I saw two true megastars: Lembit Opik and Gabriela Irimia.

I jest of course: Gabriela is a superstar; Lembit is merely a politician. But as a politics junkie, it was Lembit I recognised first and accidentally bumped into at the bar (thus undermining all my principles as set out in paragraph three).
Now, were this just a piece of crass name-dropping, this posting would be as shameless as an edition of Hello Magazine – to whom Lembit tells me he has given an interview, to be fair. But I feel that having met him I have a right to chip in to comment on a couple of controversies.

Firstly, as I said to him (in my usual subtle way) soon after we met, “Being in a new relationship should be the happiest time in a person’s life. I hope they [the press] haven’t f*cked it up for you!” To which he replied – with what I hope was candour but I fear included an element of courage in the face of adversity – “Not it the slightest. I put it all down to… envy”.

Fair enough, and good luck to him. No matter what you think of him as a politician (and I know members in Derby are furious at him), it’s a disgrace that he should be hounded by the press for that most heinous of sins: splitting up with a partner and going out with another. Of course, he made the mistake of choosing two partners who were both in the public eye, but I guess love really is blind (at least to the pressures of public interest – or opprobrium!).

Secondly – and here I must declare an interest, as he did buy me a pint – he seemed like a decent chap. Now being personable is a characteristic I suspect most politicians share and for which they should be admired rather than blamed. But nonetheless he seemed like a nice guy. What is more, he made all the right liberal noises (with an unprompted lower-case “L”) and was genuinely friendly – he didn’t just chat to me at the bar but invited me back to meet his friends.

And Gabriela? Now I didn’t get much of a chance to chat to her, but it gave me one more insight. Being recently married, I have a radar well-attuned to genuine affection. What I noticed was that not only did he show Gabriela a lot of attention but that, even when not talking to her directly, he would stroke a shoulder or play with her hair. To some this is the stuff that derision is made of. To me this suggests a man who is genuinely fond.

So condemn Lembit if you want for any political indiscretions you may feel he has demonstrated. I am now convinced of the opinion I had formed weeks ago. This latest reason he has reached the headlines is a sorry example of puerile titillation masquerading as journalism. If two people are having a good time good luck to them.

Lembit seemed like a nice enough chap. Judge him on his actions by all means, but don’t base your judgements of his love life. It’s none of your business.