The unfolding drama of Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP, one of the UK's most successful gobal companies has been a painful one to watch.
This great captain of industry was caught lying under oath about his love affair with a Canadian male escort. Rather than meeting him by chance in a park, as he had told the court, he picked him out on a torrid website.
Apparently his sexual orientation was an open secret by those around him,but it was his lying under oath that was his real undoing.
I guess the shame of having to admit that he had been showering lavish gifts on a 'rent boy' he had fallen in love would be too much of a humiliation of a man in his powerful position. I find the the whole thing tragic from start to end.
So who better to write about his perjury than the disgraced ex-MP Jonathan Aitkin who lost his libel case against the Guardian:
"I have been where Lord Browne is now. I know what a grim experience it will be for him, as he struggles to come to terms with a career imploding in disgrace accompanied by tabloid headlines demanding his prosecution for perjury. The only sane way to handle it is to face each day with wintry realism, accepting that the storm may be longer and more painful than expected."
Jesus himself, though living the perfect life and guilty of no crime, found himself on Roman trial after the devious machinations of the jealous religious rulers of the day. This led to his own public humilation of being flogged. Yet, much like the media's appetite for more news, a public flogging was not enough, he had to be executed using one of the most feared of all Roman instruments of torture: the cross.
But the story of Jesus is a story of redemption. This public act meant that this was not the end of hope of humankind, but a new beginning. Through Jesus we can be forgiven, have the slate wiped clean and start life afresh. Which is why, by the way, I can never understand people who say they have a "quiet private faith" when Jesus did such a public thing in a secular surrounding.
Jonathan Atkin again:
"Next month it will be 10 years since my misguided libel case against the Guardian imploded. The initial period of that decade was agony. Defeat, disgrace, divorce, bankruptcy and jail seemed to be an even worse royal flush of crises than the hand now dealt to the ex-BP chief executive. But gradually I came through my crises with what I call my three Fs - Faith, Family and Friends."
What is surprising about Jonathan Atkin's article is that he chose to write it in the paper whom he took to court, The Guardian.
From humilation to humilty. There is hope for us all, even BP bosses.
To read the full article by Jonathan Atkin, click here.
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