WHATEVER lawful, consensual activity John Whittingdale or other grown-ups get up to in their private lives should be of no concern to anyone else.

There is no public interest argument for dragging up a former relationship on the pretext of a possible “perception” that the Culture Secretary could have acted in particular ways because of fears of his private life coming to light in a lurid newspaper story.

The idea that Whittingdale shares the anti-BBC stance of the Murdoch media empire or rejects meaningful regulation of the press because of a publicity sword of Damocles hanging above him is desperate stuff.

He is certainly hostile to public funding of the national broadcaster, especially through the licence fee, and to press regulation — whatever agreements were drawn up over Leveson — but these attitudes reflect his personal views on the media.

If he were contorting himself into positions that contradicted decades of public comment, there might be an element of suspicion about outside pressure, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme yesterday that “Whittingdale’s close relationship with the Murdoch press made him an unsuitable person to be involved in press regulation.”

That is her — and many other people’s — long-term assessment of his role, but that judgement doesn’t arise from gossip about his private life.

Whittingdale is no latter-day convert to the cause of assisting Rupert Murdoch to dominate Britain’s media.

He preferred two decades ago to resign as higher education minister Eric Forth’s parliamentary private secretary rather than back a broadcasting Bill banning any mogul with over 20 per of total newspaper circulation owning a terrestrial TV licence.

Although Murdoch’s name wasn’t mentioned, his stable alone had that grip on circulation and his goal was always to own or control the greatest level of print and electronic media.

Whittingdale also has a history of friendship with Les Hinton and Rebekah Brooks.

Hinton was a senior executive for Murdoch’s News Corporation for half a century, while Brooks was Sun editor when illegal practices were endemic, returning as chief executive of Murdoch’s News UK publishing operations after her acquittal on charges of phone hacking, corrupt payments and perversion of the course of justice.

Whittingdale is also on record as describing the BBC licence fee as “worse than the poll tax.”

Murdoch, of course, opposes BBC funding by the licence fee, claiming that the national broadcaster is subsidised rather than competing in the marketplace.

As long as Whittingdale is Culture Secretary, there will be fears that, in concert with BBC director general Tony Hall, he will reduce the scope of the corporation or enforce reliance on market-based finance mechanisms.

He is unfitted to hold the post, shouldn’t have been appointed and should be shunted off as rapidly as possible, but his private life must not be the means to achieve this.

No dice, Cameron

DAVID CAMERON has once again insisted that, if the electorate rejects his advice and votes in favour of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, he will remain Prime Minister and lead exit negotiations.

This is utterly unsustainable, since he would have no appetite for such an eventuality. Nor has he a plan B on which to prepare for it.

Indeed, he has ordered the Civil Service not to draw up plans, preferring to stoke up Project Fear by insisting constantly that leaving the EU would cause “uncertainty.”

His position makes this certain, so a Leave vote must be followed by a no-confidence vote in the Tory leader and, preferably, a general election.