A sense of honour

The sexuality of the boss of BP is a matter of supreme indifference to me and, I would imagine, to most of the British public. However, on reading Matthew Parris's piece on Lord Browne's resignation I reacted exactly as Melanie Phillips does here. The notion that, if you're gay and really, really rich, lying in court is no big deal is the kind of thing that leads to a rising level of irritation with Mr Parris. Lord Browne himself has shown more wisdom: insofar as he had any choice in the matter, it is to his credit that he has acknowledged that he has done wrong and not tried to bluff it out.