No High Commission table sex romp

Adam Bennett at NZ Herald reports:

Former High Commissioner to London John Collinge hopes a legal victory which has seen the recall and destruction of copies of a book claiming he enjoyed a table- romp at his official residence will put the “urban myth” to bed once and for all.

Former lover Barbara Stones' claim that the pair had sex on the dining table at the residence in London's Chelsea Square was made in a letter read out in court 15 years ago as she faced charges of harassing him and his new love Margaret Postlethwaite, who is now his wife.

This is a fact that I was unaware of until recently.

I always thought that Stones has claimed in court the table sex romp, and you tend to give something claimed in court a fair degree of credibility, as there is a risk of perjury,

But actually she never testified that the romp happened. The claim was in a letter to Collinge's new partner, designed to try and make her break up with Collinge. It was read out in court as evidence in a harassment case against Stones. That makes it far less likely to be credible.

However, the story got a new lease of life late last year when Joanna Woods, the wife of former top-ranking diplomat and spymaster Richard Woods, published her bookDiplomatic Ladies.

It included an entire chapter on former National Party president Mr Collinge's time as High Commissioner to London between 1994 and 1997, focusing on the messy love triangle.

The chapter closes with the comment that Mr Collinge had never denied the dining-table incident took place.

Mr Collinge said the chapter was “a very highly personal and comprehensive attack that raised matters as though they were true”.

Mrs Woods' version of events and her “derogatory comments” were aired in articles about her book that appeared in the Herald, the Listener and even the Institute of International Affairs Journal, prompting Mr Collinge to take legal action.

An out-of-court settlement was reached this year which resulted in what Mr Collinge says was “an unreserved apology” from Mrs Woods.

Her book has been recalled by publisher Otago University Press, pulped and reprinted without the chapter about Mr Collinge.

Which I think is a good indication it never happened.