Should Mark Oaten resign?

[landmarker]

I'm not going into what the guy has himself admitted doing, because those shennanagins have been aired enough on here in my opinion but...

...given the fact that he had the nerve to stand in a leadership election when he knew his behaviour was wayward, and likely to haunt him. Given the fact that he publicly criticised a High Court judge for indulging in similar activities & given the fact that he has let down his wife and family so badly is he fit to remain as a Member of Parliament?

Westminster is a pit of back stabbing vipers but the golden rule seems to be dont get found out. The oafish Oaten did just that. Is it also right that he should lose his cushy job? For in my opinion, that's just what it is.

I'm undecided. Reasoned argument either way is what I'm looking for here.

[Rheghead]

Since he was elected for his political views, have his shannanigans or the shame on him changed him politically? MPs are supposed to represent us politically from our constituencies, they are not there to be some form of ethical or moral icons otherwise there would be no one in Westminster. They get elected and deselected, so it is not up to him if he should resign, it is up to his comeuppance at the next election.

[JAWS]

I think what surprised most people around him both politically and in the media was that he was silly enough to put himself in that position.

He must, or at least should have known that as soon as he announced he was standing for the leadership that anything untoward in his private life would soon come to light.

Having something like that in your background, and it couldn't have been well hidden, was bound to come to light eventually. I would think that some of the media were already aware but until then had bigger fish to fry.

I would say that putting himself in the spotlight under those circumstances definitely calls his judgement into question.
I certainly wouldn't trust his judgement on my behalf.

I dread to think how his family must feel but he obviously didn't give them a thought when he put himself forward.

[DW]

Listened to a debate on radio 4 about it the other night.
A lady from his contituency stated that he has continually paraded himself as the upholder of family values.
She was totally convinced he was deceitful, duplicitous, and unfit to be her MP.

Gets my vote - her - not him

[jjc]

Jaws, I agree – he has shown a massive lack of judgement.

One week ago today he released a press statement criticising the government’s new strategy on prostitution and calling for ‘managed zones’. We’ll probably never know how much his affair with a male prostitute might have influenced his decision making on important policies such as this – and given that, I think that he did the right thing in resigning his front-bench position.

Should he now resign his seat altogether? No, I don’t think so. As Rheghead says, his political opinions have not changed over the weekend – he has just lost a lot of his influence. If his local party members no longer feel that he is fit for the role then they should deselect him. Likewise, if his constituents no longer feel that he is fit to represent them then they will not vote for him.

I dread to think how his family must feel but he obviously didn't give them a thought when he put himself forward.

But can you imagine the conversation?

Mrs Oaten: Why don’t you stand, dear? You’d make a wonderful leader.
Mr Oaten: Sorry love, I can’t. I’ve been having an affair with a rent-boy eighteen years my junior and I’m afraid the press might find out…
Mrs Oaten:

[jjc]

There is a scrolling marquee on the top of Mark Oaten’s personal website (www.markoaten.com) that says:

What have I been up to in Parliament? Click here…

I don’t know why, but that did make me chuckle…

[Rheghead]

One week ago today he released a press statement criticising the government’s new strategy on prostitution and calling for ‘managed zones’. We’ll probably never know how much his affair with a male prostitute might have influenced his decision making on important policies such as this –

I am surprised he didn't try the 'Pete Townsend' excuse by claming it was for research into the problem...yeah right, he probably knew no one would buy it.

[JAWS]

jjc, you could be spot on there. If his wife thought he ought to try for the leadership even I wouldn't have liked to try to talk my way out of that one.

I like his explanation of his withdrawing from the leadership race.
He didn't have sufficient support from his colleagues. I'll bet he didn't!
They would have distanced themselves so far that they would have been specks in the distance. It's called 'having a wonderful sense of self preservation'. "No fear, you're on your own with that one mate!"

Of course, he just happens to have forgotten to mention the reason for the lack of support. Well he would, wouldn't he!
Didn't a rather attractive young lady once say something similar when another politician had been in a similar predicament involving her?

[JAWS]

I am surprised he didn't try the 'Pete Townsend' excuse by claming it was for research into the problem...yeah right, he probably knew no one would buy it.

Why not? Gladstone managed to convince everybody that the reason he took Ladies of Ill Repute back to No.10 was because he wished to discuss their moral welfare with them.
I must have had a terribly suspicious wife because somehow I don't think she would have believed that explanation.

[golach]

jjc, you could be spot on there. If his wife thought he ought to try for the leadership even I wouldn't have liked to try to talk my way out of that one.

I like his explanation of his withdrawing from the leadership race.
He didn't have sufficient support from his colleagues. I'll bet he didn't!
They would have distanced themselves so far that they would have been specks in the distance. It's called 'having a wonderful sense of self preservation'. "No fear, you're on your own with that one mate!"

Of course, he just happens to have forgotten to mention the reason for the lack of support. Well he would, wouldn't he!
Didn't a rather attractive young lady once say something similar when another politician had been in a similar predicament involving her?

Hmmm this looks like its gonna be a long debate, or maybe not. Homosexual Cowboys are possibly ok in some views. But a politician who has sex with a male prostitue???? I am physically disgusted at the thought of another male or female having sex with a similar sex person. The thought of it is totally abhorant in my opinion

[JAWS]

Golach, I think that line was taken over a Welsh MP who was in a similar situation. I don't think he lasted very long after he was found out.
If I remember rightly he tried to brazen it out and failed.

[ice box]

Yes .........

[gleeber]

I dont have a lot of time for anyone who decieves someone else although I am aware it probably happens more often than even Jaws could make fun of.
That awareness makes me look at the knockers and moralisers in a new way. I wonder what secret thoughts and perversions our bonnie laddies on Caithness.org keep from the rest of the world?
If I dont like something I dont do it. I dont imagine the taste of tripe when someone mentions tripe, neither do I imagine the mechanics of homosexuality when I hear it mentioned. I find that quite odd.

[Saveman]

I'm not going into what the guy has himself admitted doing, because those shennanagins have been aired enough on here in my opinion but...

...given the fact that he had the nerve to stand in a leadership election when he knew his behaviour was wayward, and likely to haunt him. Given the fact that he publicly criticised a High Court judge for indulging in similar activities & given the fact that he has let down his wife and family so badly is he fit to remain as a Member of Parliament?

Westminster is a pit of back stabbing vipers but the golden rule seems to be dont get found out. The oafish Oaten did just that. Is it also right that he should lose his cushy job? For in my opinion, that's just what it is.

I'm undecided. Reasoned argument either way is what I'm looking for here.

I think this brings in the bigger question of morals in the modern world. Should there be one set standard of morals for everyone? Or one set of standards for the public and another set of standards for those in charge? And who sets those standards?
Currently anything goes in a moral sense for the general public, "live and let live." When we see politicians doing the same then there is an outcry.
Seems somewhat hypocritcal to me.

[Whitewater]

Everybody can moralise and debate this issue until the cows come home and no conclusion will be arrived at.

If you are in public service and in the media spotlight you should have enough sense to know that anything in your background which can make cheep news and boost newspaper sales or capture the media audience is bound to come to the attention of the nation sooner or later. The media in this country appears to take great delight in building up people and their reputations just so that they can have better fun in tearing them to bits at the first sign of human fraility.

[scotsboy]

No, I dont think he should resign.

[Saveman]

Everybody can moralise and debate this issue until the cows come home and no conclusion will be arrived at.

We'll each arrive at our own conclusion no doubt.

If you are in public service and in the media spotlight you should have enough sense to know that anything in your background which can make cheep news and boost newspaper sales or capture the media audience is bound to come to the attention of the nation sooner or later. The media in this country appears to take great delight in building up people and their reputations just so that they can have better fun in tearing them to bits at the first sign of human fraility.

The media is only allowed to do this because of the public’s insatiable appetite for scandal. We get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when the underdog beats the odds and reaches the top. Once he's at the top for a while we get a warm, fuzzy feeling in watching him being torn to sheds and fall from grace.
Human nature some might say or a lack of direction in peoples lives that mean they live life through the medium of celebrity voyeurism.

The world is a piece of cheese and I'm eating it.

[JAWS]

The media is only allowed to do this because of the public’s insatiable appetite for scandal. We get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when the underdog beats the odds and reaches the top. Once he's at the top for a while we get a warm, fuzzy feeling in watching him being torn to sheds and fall from grace.
Human nature some might say or a lack of direction in peoples lives that mean they live life through the medium of celebrity voyeurism.

The whole sad, silly and childish nature of our press and media was summed up rather nicely by the England Football Manager who pointed out that the press and media were far more interested in his private life than they were about the job he is employed to do. He described it as a circus and pointed out that this is the only European Country where this happens.
I can't speak about other Countries by France has a law about privacy specifically to stop this sort of 'feeding frenzy'.

Personally I find the whole 'who slept with who last night' stories as interesting as being told about the goings on between next door dear sweet tabby and the nasty roving ginger-tom from down the lane.

Have we really got to the state as a Nation where the most interesting and exciting thing in the World is at the level of tittle tattle over the back yard wall.
Occasionally we descend to the level of serious questions being asked in Parliament about the 'goings on' in Soap Operas.

I shudder to think what 'grown up' Countries think about us. And we think we ought to be taken seriously in the World?
Has anybody put the Cat out yet?

[badger]

Hmmm this looks like its gonna be a long debate, or maybe not. Homosexual Cowboys are possibly ok in some views. But a politician who has sex with a male prostitue???? I am physically disgusted at the thought of another male or female having sex with a similar sex person. The thought of it is totally abhorant in my opinion

Has it ever occurred to you that homosexuals might find the prospect of sex with someone of the opposite sex abhorrent? People and animals are born with all sorts of gender variations and sexual natures - what is natural to one is unnatural to another but that's no reason to go around calling someone different from you disgusting. Why only complain about a politician having sex with a male prostitute? Are you saying it’s OK if the prostitute is female, because if so I strongly disagree. For many prostitutes their way of life is slavery, either to someone else or to an addiction, and a perpetual misery. This is what’s wrong, not the sex of the prostitute.

[scotsboy]

What if it was a sheep then?