The Secretary of State for Wales resigned on 27 October 1998 following what he would later call a “moment of madness” that led to him being mugged by a man he had met on London’s Clapham Common. The Common was a well-known meeting place for men looking for casual sex with other men.
Caerphilly MP Ron Davies was at the peak of his political career: an MP since 1983, now a cabinet member of the New Labour government which had taken power 18 months earlier. He had steered the creation of the devolved Assembly for Wales and despite the Clapham Common scandal went on to be elected as member for that town in that Assembly in 1999.
He came out as bisexual to a hostile press and stood down as MP in 2001, but his political career was not over: he’s now an elected councillor and sits as Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning on Caerphilly’s local council.
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