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Westminster's odd couple (MAJOR, CURRIE AND ONE LINERS OF THE DAY)
BBC News ^ | September 28, 2002 | Nick Assinder

Posted on 09/28/2002 12:15:55 PM PDT by MadIvan

John Major and Edwina Currie were lovers.

No - not even writing it down makes it any less mind bending.

The man who tucked his vest into his underpants had a four year affair with the most outspoken and sexually interested woman of her political generation - a sort of Essex girl Margaret Thatcher.

It's like learning that Betty Boop had been doing it with Elmer Fudd all those years.

This line is still making me howl with laughter - Ivan

No wonder they kept it quiet for so long.

And it's still hard to decide which one of them should be the most ashamed.

Talk about the odd couple.

Edwina was once a virtually permanent fixture on the nation's TV screen saying something outrageous about just about anything - a habit which finally and inevitably killed off her political career - and flirting with her hosts.

Her novels were predictably racy, packed full of heaving breasts and hairy chests.

And there was always the suspicion with Edwina that she didn't just talk the talk.

After all, she did previously confess to a youthful fling with the man who would be London mayor -Steve Norris.

Mind you that's a pretty big field.

Cricket and peas

Let's be frank, she was fun and every political journalist's dream come true.

Then there was John Major, the man who was so unknown when he suddenly shot through the middle to become prime minister that many political hacks had to look him up in the Times Guide to the Commons.

He was grey, had an unfortunate speech pattern and loved cricket and peas.

Rory Bremner and Spitting Image had great fun with these characters individually.

Just imagine what they could have done if their affair had been known about then.

Oddly, it is Mary Archer who may have neatly summed up what many will think of this affair.

"I am a little surprised, not at Mrs Currie's indiscretion but at a temporary lapse in John Major's taste," she said.

And that from the woman who is married to one of the most notorious liars, deceivers and fantasists in contemporary politics.

There is, of course, a serious side to all this.

Flirt

Not least the effect the liaison must have had on the lovers' (there's that word again) families.

And many will wonder, although not for long, why the now-divorced Mrs Currie will have chosen this moment to lift the lid on this little affair.

Some may see her as a publicity-seeker, but it also gives an insight into a John Major few saw.

He was a much more appealing character in the flesh than on the TV screens or in formal settings.

He could flirt with the best of them and he had a decidedly waspish, even vicious, side to his nature.

One of the unfortunate consequences of this revelation is that it will remind voters of the Tories' sleaziest period - the time when Mr Major was urging them to go back to basics just as half his party appeared to be getting down to far more modern things.

He may not have meant it that way but any politician or spin doctor worth his salt would have spotted the dangers immediately.

Mind you, historians are already starting to re-write the Major legacy - he won the 1992 election against all the odds and he helped create the economy Gordon Brown has since been taking advantage of.

Maybe, as with Paddy Ashdown when his affair with his secretary was revealed, Mr Major's opinion poll rating will actually go up in the wake of this revelation.

One thing is for sure.

This will be the talk of politics for some time to come.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: affair; currie; major; rofl
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Just in case you need to be reminded of what the happy couple looks like:

Edwina Currie in 2001 John Major

It's disgusting but also hilarious. ;)

Regards, Ivan


1 posted on 09/28/2002 12:15:55 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: BigWaveBetty; schmelvin; MJY1288; terilyn; Ryle; MozartLover; Teacup; rdb3; fivekid; jjm2111; ...
Bump!
2 posted on 09/28/2002 12:16:21 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
I've heard it said Lady Thatcher didn't want anyone
nicer looking than Thatcher, in her cabinet. <>
3 posted on 09/28/2002 12:30:21 PM PDT by AdvisorB
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To: MadIvan
She is just so...homely looking!
4 posted on 09/28/2002 12:30:52 PM PDT by I_Love_My_Husband
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To: Mr.Smorch
I've heard it said Lady Thatcher didn't want anyone nicer looking than Thatcher, in her cabinet.

That's the first time I've heard it, but there is some truth in that. In any event, John Major obviously needs a new prescription for his glasses.

Regards, Ivan

5 posted on 09/28/2002 12:32:08 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: grlfrnd
She is just so...homely looking!

As ever, grlfrnd, you are being gracious. ;)

Regards, Ivan

6 posted on 09/28/2002 12:32:33 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
Betty Boop was NOT making it with Elmer Fudd all these years?

There goes one of my favority fantasies....(where do you think Tweety Bird came from? He is only Larry Bird's ADOPTED child.)

7 posted on 09/28/2002 12:42:36 PM PDT by alloysteel
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To: MadIvan
Looking back at the Profumo affair, at least the
object of the minister's affection was beautiful.
What on earth could Major, or Currie for that matter, been
possibly thinking?
8 posted on 09/28/2002 12:43:42 PM PDT by AdvisorB
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To: alloysteel
There goes one of my favority fantasies....

Far, far too much information my friend. ;)

Regards, Ivan

9 posted on 09/28/2002 12:48:07 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: Mr.Smorch
What on earth could Major, or Currie for that matter, been possibly thinking?

I think the fact that they weren't thinking at all is perfectly evident. ;)

Regards, Ivan

10 posted on 09/28/2002 12:50:04 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
It's like learning that Betty Boop had been doing it with Elmer Fudd all those years.

Ah HAH!!! Just as I've suspected. Now, is it true about Huckleberry Hound being gay?

11 posted on 09/28/2002 1:58:34 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: IronJack
Ah HAH!!! Just as I've suspected. Now, is it true about Huckleberry Hound being gay?

I take it that would make him the Jim Neighbors of the Cartoon world?

Regards, Ivan

12 posted on 09/28/2002 2:01:34 PM PDT by MadIvan
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To: MadIvan
I think it's "Nabors." But if he's gay, maybe your spelling is more accurate.
13 posted on 09/28/2002 2:09:20 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: IronJack
I think it's "Nabors." But if he's gay, maybe your spelling is more accurate.

My knowledge on the spelling is 3rd hand at best. And considering what I heard about him, distance is preferable. ;)

Regards, Ivan

14 posted on 09/28/2002 2:10:46 PM PDT by MadIvan
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: MadIvan
Tim Currie I can believe, but Lee Majors, say it ain't so!
16 posted on 09/28/2002 2:13:02 PM PDT by x
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To: MadIvan
She has her own website and does look draggy


17 posted on 09/28/2002 2:21:31 PM PDT by ValerieUSA
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To: MadIvan
Her novels were predictably racy, packed full of heaving breasts and hairy chests.

She is a novelist? What did she write?

a.cricket

18 posted on 09/28/2002 3:09:50 PM PDT by another cricket
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To: MadIvan
Ivan,

"Her novels were predictably racy, packed full of heaving breasts and hairy chests."

Could be worse:

Her novels were predictably racy, packed full of heaving chests and hairy breasts.

19 posted on 09/28/2002 4:36:35 PM PDT by Jabba the Nutt
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To: Mr.Smorch
What's that slogan? "Beer, helping ugly people have sex for 3000 years." Right?
20 posted on 09/28/2002 5:30:17 PM PDT by eno_
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