GAY, TOLERANT ESSEX
Nicholas Farrell finds Jerry Hayes's Harlow
illiberal at first, then not. There's even a 'gay' club next to the Tory HQ
THE BELL for last orders rang in the Crown, Old Harlow, like the bell for the start of round 15 in a boxing bout. 'Are you a f—ing poof? Because you look like one sitting there with your legs crossed!' a middle-aged man shouted at me. 'Who are you really? You're from Gay Times, aren't you? You're Labour,' shouted another. 'It was you in the Green Man the other night! I know you. . . . "Why don't you piss off, poof?' said the first man. 'Yeah! Go on! Piss or said the second. What had prompted these hostilities deep in that stretch of Essex which is the East End with leaves? It was my question: 'Does it matter if your MP who is married has sex with an under-age boy?'
For a stranger to ask such a question in a place like the Crown was to ask for trou- ble, even though the Crown, with its black beams, log fires and horse brasses, was said to be the most civilised pub in Har- low. But it had unintentional conse- quences. It was a provocation which ensured that these men of Essex would not be circumlocutory when asked what they thought about this week's allegations against their MP, the Conservative Jerry Hayes — that he, a married man with chil- dren, had had illegal sex with an 18-year- old boy. The allegations are now the subject of a libel writ — but even before Mr Hayes had issued his writ — mention- ing the subject was dangerous.
It has always been difficult to under- stand quite why Essex men and Essex women — the no-nonsense people whose historic transfer of political allegiance from Labour to Tory in 1979 has helped ensure a Tory government ever since — should want a man like Mr Hayes, the Ken Dodd of the Commons, as the MP for Harlow. Being a Tory helps, but he has deliberately set himself up as a clown who is the butt of jokes at his own expense, in particular on television programmes such as the James Whale show. He looks like a wimp and his Tory credentials are decided- ly limited. His most notable contribution to national politics — before the allega- tions — was to be vice-chairman of the Commons all-party Aids committee and to vote for the lowering of the age of sexual consent for homosexuals to 16. But Mr Hayes is a tireless worker in his con- stituency. And in this part of the world they do like a man who can laugh at him- self. They like Diddy-men and Noel Edmonds' House Party. But is the joke over in Harlow not just for Mr Hayes but for the Tories as well?
But Harlow is not as illiberal as its repu- tation. The Conservative Association office in Harlow is next to the town's gay bar, Rubys, which stands for Relax Unwind Be Yourself. Both were closed on Monday evening when I dropped in to Harlow to test the mood. 'I was looking for the odd Tory, I said to a passing woman. 'There's quite a few odd Tories round here, love,' she said. The local MP may be a Tory but there is not a single Tory councillor on the Labour-controlled town council. Harlow, a marginal con- stituency, will be crucial territory in the general election. So which way will it swing? Just how gay is Essex these days? Getting there, if David Roberts, chair- man of the Conservative Association, is anything to go by. He said that 'people's' sexual peccadillos didn't bother him 'all that much'. So much for those of people. What of those of the MP for Harlow? 'That's for Harlow to decide,' he said. But the point was, he added, 'I'm not bothered about that sort of thing. It's a bit like colour and women. It doesn't really mat- ter.' But whatever his views were, should Mr Hayes resign for the sake of the party? He declined to be drawn until he had heard what Mr Hayes had to say at next week's meeting of the local party's execu- tive committee. But it was clear that for Mr Roberts, Married Tory MP Has Gay Sex wasn't a resigning matter. What, though, of Married Tory MP Has Under-age Illegal Gay Sex? 'That's perhaps a slightly differ- ent kettle of fish,' he conceded. But he added, 'He's denied having sex with the man and until I hear differently I'm sup- porting him.' Mr Roberts will presumably be reassured now Mr Hayes is suing for libel. Essex man and woman, to judge from the content of the calls received by the Conservative Association on the matter, have become really rather tolerant of homosexuality of late, as Mr Roberts explained: 'What's significant is we've had no telephone calls from constituents or opponents saying they want Jerry's head on a plate. And it's Essex men and Essex women telephoning in and supporting him.'
So much for calls to party headquarters. What about out there in the constituency — for example, in the most civilised pub in Harlow? Before being so rudely interrupt- ed I had spoken to men in the Crown who were prepared to ponder the intricacies of the matter in a civilised fashion. Does it matter, I had asked Russell Lloyd, a 38- year-old wine merchant, who has always voted Tory, if his MP is gay? 'That's a straightforward question to which the answer is complicated,' he said, pausing often, `by the fact that he's married . . with kids.' Did the alleged under-age gay sex matter? 'Yes . . . I would have thought . . . that would not be the basis . . to have confidence in someone,' he said pausing even more often.
Mr Lloyd was troubled by those love let- ters — the ones Mr Hayes is said to have sent to his alleged one-time lover, Paul Stone, the former Young Conservative who sold the story to the News of the World for a reputed £75,000 — the con- tents of which the newspaper published.
'He has hanged himself with those let- ters,' he said with a groan. 'What he seems to have done, should these letters he's written apparently . . . be true . I think it's as foolish as you can possibly get, given his position, given the respect that goes with that position. . . not just with his con- stituents . . . but with the party . . one of the things it seems to have been doing for the past 18 months is shooting itself in the foot. You have to look very broadly at what's going on. Here we have John Major 'We have a zero tolerance policy.' launch his new campaign on the family. . . and that. . . very. . . week. . . this. . . hap- pens.'
And yet despite all this, like any good jury, the one in the Crown was still out in the matter of Mr Hayes until it had heard both sides of the story, and this was before Mr Hayes had issued his libel writ, though he had put out a denial. Jim Porteous, 38, an off-duty barman, said, 'But does Jerry Hayes write letters in copperplate, which is what those published in the paper were?' And even if Mr Hayes did use quaint cop- perplate for his love letters to a boy it did not seem to matter much either way to Mr Porteous: 'Let's try to get this under-age thing out of the way first. A man can kiss a man by 18. A woman can kiss a woman at 16. You can make love to a woman at 16. So how do they define the laws? As far as I'm concerned if you can do it with a woman at 16 why not a man? Anyway,' he added, 'what the hell does it matter if you're a pool? A man can live his own life.'
The Crown was not finished yet. Phillip Morris, 38, a stores inspector and floating voter, said, 'John Prescott doing 85 mph on a motorway is far more irresponsible. He could've killed someone.' But whatever Mr Hayes may have done, special loathing was reserved for the messenger rather than the message — in other words, Mr Stone and Max Clifford, the public relations man who has engineered this and so many other scandal stories in recent times. 'How much did the News of the World pay that little shit?' asked Mr Porteous in his closing speech. 'And as for that Max Clifford. . . . ' It was not envy, 1 felt, behind such remarks. It was just a sense of what did and did not constitute the done thing.
Outside, the minicab driver told me, 'The landlord came out and asked me if I was waiting for anyone in particular and I said no, just a reporter. He said I'd better stick around; he may be needing an ambu- lance.' The taxi-driver did not mind if Mr Hayes was homosexual either. And he liked the way he sent himself up. But what really did get up his nose about the Tories was the Scott inquiry. 'You know . . . the thing is . . . I still don't know. Were they pre- pared to send three men to prison to pro- tect theirselves?'
Younger people in Harlow appeared much less bothered than those in the Crown about homosexual MPs. Robert, 20, an assistant manager in the Jean Harlow pub in New Harlow, said, The younger generation up to their mid-twenties has grown up more open-minded.' But of his customers he said, 'Well, everything I've heard, is well, disgusting, all very homo- phobic.' But the issue was not just one of homosexuality, was it? Paula, 24, an off- duty barmaid, said, 'It's the fact that it was under-age that bothers me and the fact that he's married with children.'
I had the impression that even if Mr Hayes might have to go in Harlow, a Tory MP could well stay.
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