"A junior health minister has apologised unreservedly to a civil servant after she told managers she was unhappy with the nature of their relationship.The report continues in the same anodyne manner without giving any real details as to what happened.
The woman worked in the private office of Ivan Lewis, MP for Bury South, but asked to be transferred last year.
In a statement, the Health department said no formal complaint had been made against Mr Lewis, and the matter had been handled "sensitively".
The woman was given another job, but has since left the civil service."
Oddly other news sources are more forthcoming:
The Guardian reports that
"The political future of health minister Ivan Lewis was thrown into doubt last night after claims that he harassed a female civil servant with suggestive text messages."and also tells us that
"Two years ago, Lewis left his wife and their two children for a married councillor in his Bury constituency."
The News of The World reports the story in predictable style:
"A TOP government minister bombarded a pretty civil servant with personal text messages, driving her out of her job.
The News of the World can reveal Health Minister Ivan Lewis PURSUED 25-year-old Susie Mason after misinterpreting her friendly banter.
He is understood to have sent a string of texts and, as the messages became more intimate, Susie was forced to make a tearful complaint to her bosses.
She asked to be moved to another job and was transferred to a new post within the Department."
AFP report the story thus:
"A government minister has apologised to a former aide who had complained about him, newspaper reports said Sunday suggesting he had bombarded her with personal text messages.
The Department of Health late Saturday said the woman, 24 at the time, was "unhappy with the nature of her working relationship" with 41-year-old junior minister Ivan Lewis.
He has "apologised unreservedly" over the incidents in 2007, which came a year after he separated from his wife, it said."
The Mail finds the space to report that:
"A Government Minister’s career was hanging in the balance last night after he admitted bombarding a young female aide with suggestive phone messages.
Ivan Lewis, a 41-year-old Health Minister, issued a statement apologising for sending dozens of mobile phone text messages to Susie Mason, a 24-year-old assistant who worked in his private office in Whitehall.
After complaining to her bosses, Ms Mason was moved to a different job before resigning from the Civil Service to join an accountancy firm."
In fact as of this morning Google finds 13 reports on this story and only the BBC report excludes the detail about the texts and his previously leaving his wife.
Shall we speculate as to why this might be the case, why the BBC might not report all the details available? I don't remember this sort of reticence when Conservative ministers' peccadilloes were being revealed regularly by the BBC in the early 1990s. Once gain the BBC's habit of protecting Labour ministers from scandal is revealed and to be honest the bias stinks.
UPDATE:
It appears that I may have been doing Gordon Brown's work by reporting Ivan Lewis' transgression. I feel dirty...
2 comments:
Speculate is the right word, that's what you're doing. Why does the BBC report not mention this? The reality is you don't know, you jump to the conclusion that it's biased. A shep is exactly what you are.
Did you even read my article? Have you read the other 12 reports? Can you spell "sheep"?
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