Never met Driberg but there were certainly lots of rumours current in the 1950s following on from the Burgess, Maclean and Philby defections to the Soviet Union, perhaps especially because Guy Burgess was also gay.

In the 1960s and 1970s, when Wilson was PM, there was much whispering and barroom gossip about Wilson and his secretary, Marcia, and about him being a covert KGB agent an’ all – remember Hugh Gaitskell’s mysterious illness and unexpected death in January 1963, which had created the opportunity for Wilson to become Labour leader?
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2005/highlights_march/march14/default.htm

Hugh Cudlipp, editorial director of the Mirror Newspapers, was the public front end of proposals canvassed for a supposedly non-partisan coalition government of the “good and great” to rescue the country in the 1970s with much talk about Britain becoming “ungovernable” after the mining strike of 1973/4.

All that got mixed up with the search by the security services for the Soviet moles and spies who hadn’t been exposed. By the account of Tony Wright (ex MI5) in: Spycatcher (1987), MI5 operatives burgled their way around London and other places in the search for incriminating intelligence about subversives but without any notable success:
http://www.namebase.org/sources/JD.html

“Those were the days, my friend . . ”
http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?q=those+were+the+days+mary+hopkin&hl=en&emb=0&aq=1&oq=those+were+the+days#

Wasn’t Tom Driberg matey with some very rum people, besides the KGB of course?

You’ve not mentioned Eden’s successor, Macmillan, whose wife reportedly had a long affair with Bob Boothby.

So what? Bob Boothby also maintained a friendship with the Kray brothers, quote:

“Boothby had a colourful, if reasonably discreet private life, mainly because the press refused to print what they knew of him, or were prevented from doing so. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, said in a 1991 interview with Woodrow Wyatt that ‘The press knew all about it’, referring to his affairs. She also described him as ‘a bounder but not a cad’. He was married twice: in 1935 to Diana Cavendish (marriage dissolved in 1937) and in 1967 to Wanda Sanna. The writer and broadcaster Sir Ludovic Kennedy has said ‘…to my certain knowledge [Boothby] fathered at least three children by the wives of other men (two by one woman, one by another).’

“From 1930 he had a long affair with Dorothy Macmillan, wife of the Conservative politician and later Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Boothby is thought by many to have been the father of Sarah Macmillan, who was raised by the Macmillans as their own daughter. This connection to Macmillan, via his wife, has been seen as one of the reasons why the police didn’t investigate the death of Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, who died in the presence of suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams. The duke was Lady Dorothy’s brother, and it is thought the police were wary of drawing press attention to her while she was being unfaithful.

“Boothby was bisexual and had a homosexual relationship with Ronald Kray, the younger Kray twin. Although initially known to the Sunday Express, the paper opted not to publish a story that would damage the Conservative Party . . . ”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Boothby,_Baron_Boothby

I wonder what MI5 would have made of all that if Labour politicians in government had any such colourful associations.

STILL WAITING……….

They should condemn these unfounded smears as totally unaccaptable under any circumstances. The reason they are unable to do so is because that is the nature of the Tory beast.

They are used to attacking the man and not the ball. The Right wing attack dogs show no mercy when it comes to personal abuse and these sickening attacks. Witness the attacks on Obama. No decent political party need indulge in this type of thing. McBride walked within hours of his silly little email, but then again, much as I have come to dislike the Labour Party, I have to concede they play to a higher standard than the bastard Tories, most of whom I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.

Yeah, well maybe. Truth and the Tories are not exactly best buddies, are they?

You will have noticed how the Tory Party have came out and denounced such sickening smears and sought to defend Brown’s right to privacy and called for such attacks to end?

Dave Cameron has issued a statement condemning these baseless attacks in the strongest possible terms?

Er, no. Despite having a comanding lead in the polls, they have decended to the gutter, if ‘decended’ is the correct term. Perhaps ‘remained’ is more appropriate.

The ‘story’ that he is on anti-depressants comes from a Lib-Dem/Green voting blogger with no Tory connections.

They are brought up from an early age to spot and exploit any weakness, real or imagined, for their own gain. Jeremy Clarkson’s attack on Brown’s missing eye is testament to that; you don’t have to go far to find reference to Cyclops on blogs and message boards. These people’s instinct is for the racist, sexist, homophobic remarks.

They spend their entire time picking on the weak, the poor and especially mental illness. These are the people who condemned thousands of mentally ill to wandering about seaside town or languishing in prison.

Once this story had been concocted by the vilest scum this Country has to offer, the Tories were duty bound to run with it, it is in their genes. You may as well complain about a puppy shitting a carpet.

“Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent , industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous, and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph.”
George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-four, Part II, chapter 9.

It’s hard to know what to make of this. When Blair was in power, there were countless stories doing the rounds that Carole Caplin was banning him from eating certain foods and so on. Nobody suggested Blair was a depressive following that episode, everyone just treated it as tittle-tattle. Personally, I think Gordon Brown is mad – but I judge that on his (mostly crap) decisions as Prime Mental… sorry, Prime Minister.

I wonder who will be the first journalist to ask about the “pictures” of Gordon on a rocking horse whilst wearing a nappy…

In 1997 people were sick of a tired Tory Government riddled with sleaze and a lack of direction. In 2009 people are sick of a Labour Government that is tired and failed. Most reasonable people feel that they have taxed and squandered and invaded our lives and simply want a change of government.

Seriously, nobody out in the real world gives a damn about Marr’s interview and that’s the truth of it.

MAOIs are sometimes referred to as ‘last drug of choice’ for treatment of depression.

In other words they are reserved for patients who have failed to respond to other classes of antidepressant such as SSRIs or tricyclics.

The MAOI hypothesis seems to imply that GB has had a severe and enduring mood disorder that has failed to respond to a variety of anti-depressants while all the time carrying out an intensely demanding job never more than a few feet away from the public gaze, or the photographers lens.

Perhaps Marr should leave the Martin Bashir routine to those more interested in celebrity lifestyles?

I’m not sure Ward particularly does *want* his conclusion to be true, on the basis of that First Post article. Certainly not if he’s been on the same medication himself. Why would any human being who has ever been depressed wish that on anyone else? He’s also not a party political blogger in the sense of membership, and he’s not a political gossip blog – he writes about all kinds of things. This is perhaps why I am more inclined to give consideration to what he suggests than I would be to others.

“A lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through; are you one of those people?”

The implicit question put to GB was do you depend on drugs to function?

While allusions to ‘prescription pain-killers’ and ‘pills’ is virtually synonymous with the erratic lifestyle associated with B-list celebrities like Kerry Katona, et al,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7684017.stm

Why didn’t Marr just come out straight with it and ask GB if he was a ‘nutter’

Please look again at what I wrote, Sunny.

“And [Ward] isn’t doing unsubstantiated smear either, so far as I can see. He’s pointing out the coincidence between Brown’s new diet and the diet followed by people on strong anti-depressants. Assuming he hasn’t invented the source for the Brown’s new diet chatter itself, I can’t see any reason not to at least consider what he says.”

All true. Stand by it all. I’m prepared to consider what he says – I don’t know what you think I’m doing. a&e’s contribution @109 is interesting. I wonder if there are any other related conditions these foods would be a no-no for? (Assuming it is not gout, which I gather at 1 in 200 people (thanks NHS Choices) is rarer than depression, though whether it’s rarer than heavy depression I don’t know).

Also, you’ll note the original purpose of my contribution was to correct what Kate@7 claimed, that the article contains an admission from John Ward that he made up the claims. I quoted it to show that he says nothing of the sort.

Thankfully, you are not a Doctor or a Mental health Practitioner.

I hope.

1) If GB does suffer from a mental illness and is being treated for it, does it matter?

If the answer is no, Marr was wrong to ask about it.

2) If it does matter are there are sufficient grounds to suspect it may be true?

If the answer is no, Marr was wrong to ask about it.

3) If GB suffers from a mental illness and Marr asks him about it, is he likely, in all the circumstances, to get a truthful response.

If the answer is no, Marr was wrong to ask about it.

If the answers to 1,2 and 3 are thought to be in the affirmitive then, as the question is of a controversial and personal nature, it should have been flagged to GB in advance of the interview that he would be asked it. The matter could have then been put directly to him, not in the oblique and supine way it was asked by Marr. Having been given the opportunity to consider his answer in advance, Brown would have had the opportunity to scotch all the rumours if he chose to do so.

I actually believe GB to be a man of great principle, intellect and substance who has tried to serve his party and country with the best of motives. If the stress he has suffered in trying to do an impossible job over the last year has made him ill, I am genuinely sorry.

But just looking at him interviewed yesterday- overweight, over made-up, sweating profusely and unable to keep both feet parallel to the floor simultaneously, my gut instinct is that the rumour may be true. If it is, then a second term as PM might not be in his best interests (whether or not it be in ours).

I do hope I’m wrong but, if I’m right, Marr was entitled to ask the question.

The foods cited in your post, Alix, (chianti, cheese and avacado) are all relatively purine-rich and should thus be avoided if you suffer with GOUT – now, did Andy ask the lama-shagging paedo if he had any problems with his big toe?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-foods-that-cause-gout.htm