Cocaine, prostitutes and an orange bra: at least Sewel had some support

THE FRIDAY THING: WEARING a fetching but entirely unbecoming orange bra, perhaps lined with ermine, Lord Sewel showed no shame at snorting a line of cocaine or being entertained by £200-an-hour prostitutes.

The only certainty here is that the peer was having a great time. That somebody with such an outrageous name - John Buttifant Sewel - should be sharing his bed with a couple of prostitutes, a handy bag of cocaine and two photographers from the Sun newspaper, might well give a few colleagues and friends some exotic ideas.

Lord Sewel’s description of the entirely out of place activities was that he just wanted to be led astray and had little or no time for his colleagues, saying members of the House of Lords were “right thieves, rogues and b******* at times.” Clearly, it takes one to know one.

There is more than a hint of hypocrisy in Sewel’s activities, having recently announced new powers to expel Lords if they are caught misbehaving. Maybe he doesn’t think snorting coke and entertaining prostitutes is grounds for expulsion.

In the end - three days into the storm surrounding him and a day after the police launched a criminal investigation - he quit the Lords, apologising for the “pain and embarrassment” he had caused.

In another time, he would have been a natural candidate for the Tower of London. Perhaps the rack and chopping block there could be brought back into duty, if only to alert the other 800 or so members of the House of Lords to at least try to behave.