“There are always those who protest that how people behave in their private lives matters because character matters. But this underestimates the extent to which character is at least in part situation-specific. Someone can be a loyal rugby team member and a disloyal husband; honest with his wife but mendacious with colleagues; courageous facing illness and cowardly at sea in a storm. We should indeed judge politicians by their virtues, but only those that apply to their work as MPs. Lie to the electorate and you’re out. Lie to your spouse and you’re a bastard, but you can keep your job. (We will remember you’re a bastard though, so don’t try to pretend otherwise.)”