Alan Johnson's former police bodyguard sacked

Caught in the act! More from comics galore

A police bodyguard to former Home Secretary Alan Johnson has been sacked after an inquiry into an alleged affair with the Labour MP's wife. PC Paul Rice, 45, was dismissed by the Metropolitan Police, which condemned him for damaging its reputation. Now I'm wondering if I'm alone in thinking this is a bit rich. The "damaging its reputation" bit. After all, the Met have been pretty good at aiming potshots at its reputation, sometimes with deadly accuracy.

They've been forced through hedges backwards to get them to reveal information they consider damaging. Then they act like hermetically sealed lids. We've seen them come out of the News International fiasco with mud stuck as one example. Then there was the G20 protests with the death of passerby Ian Tomlinson. Not to mention the shinanigans regarding the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. So now we have a policeman falling short. Not over beating someone up or stealing or the like. He suffered only from a human failing that many have suffered from. He coveted another man's wife. Not only that, he did something about it by having an affair - allegedly. MPs have been known to cavort with women who are not their wives. I imagine there are a few policeman that do similar things.

Would PC Rice have been sacked if he had committed adultery with another policeman's wife? I do not know, but I'm wondering if it was the fact that Alan Johnson was the cuckold in this case. The police these days have seemingly odd ideas about things. They are quite happy to be involved with gay parades, yet pour scorn on heterosexual impropriety. It is as if a new morality is being policed by the police.

That PC Rice did wrong is clear. But should he be thrown out of his job because he apparently damaged the Met's reputation? Seems a bit harsh. And the affair is still only alleged. Justice of a kind, I suppose.

Posted in: adultery,Metropolitan Police