He has long had something of a reputation for being a ladies’ man, and now the Appeal Court has ruled that the public has a right to know that Boris had an extramarital affair with a woman who later gave birth to their daughter.
The Guardian reports that ‘three senior judges decided on Monday that voters were entitled to be told that the mayor of London conducted a “brief adulterous affair” with the woman who later gave birth to their daughter, now aged three.’
Helen Macintyre, a professional art consultant, has lost her legal battle to keep secret the paternity of her daughter in a ruling that could change the privacy rights of public figures in England and Wales. While Bozza’s fatherhood of Macintyre’s daughter was first revealed by the Daily Mail in July 2010, it has since been the subject of a legal battle at the high court.
Lawyers for the Daily Mail had argued that it was in the public interest to name Boris as the child’s father because it ‘went to the issue of recklessness and whether on that account he was fit for public office’.
The Court of Appeal said: “It is not in dispute that the legitimate public interest in the father’s character is an important factor to be weighed in the balance against the claimant’s expectation of privacy.
“The core information in this story, namely that the father had an adulterous affair with the mother, deceiving both his wife and the mother’s partner and that the claimant, born about nine months later, was likely to be the father’s child, was a public interest matter which the electorate was entitled to know when considering his fitness for high public office.”
The mayor’s official spokesman said: “We don’t comment on matters pertaining to the mayor’s private life.” Probably just as well, otherwise they might have to take on more staff….