Funny Peculiar

The up-and-coming comedian and health service privatisation minister Ivan Lewis has been exposed by our moral guardians, the Maul on Sunday and the Nugatories of the World, as an alleged harasser of females. A civil servant working in Lewis' private office apparently complained to her managers last year and was moved to another post before leaving to join the doubtless more inspiring and spiritually fulfilling world of accountancy. According to the Department of Health, the situation "was handled professionally and sensitively"; the lady was not, after all, a nurse, much less a patient. Anonymous departmental sources have hastened to assure an anxious nation that Lewis has the "full confidence" of the Secretary of State, despite occasional gaffes such as suggesting that a Labour government might tax the rich in order to help the poor. Nevertheless, now that the tabloids have expressed their ethical disapprobation, "the incident is unlikely to enhance his prospects of preferment in the next government reshuffle".