Before the recent revelation that he was sending text photos of his penis to newspaper reporters, I was not over-familiar with Brooks Newmark MP, the former minister for civic society (another name for Dave’s Big Society), other having previously told charities that they should “stick to their knitting” rather than campaigning.
The Daily Mirror was accused of entrapment over the story. I am assuming it was a cock up. But now The Sun has alleged further instances of Mr Newmark’s texting activities.
Now he is quitting as an MP altogether, having acknowledged the ‘demons’ he is fighting and he will be checking into residential psychiatric care over the next few weeks.
So, it doesn’t seem to be funny after all. Man who is cracking up with mental health issues does something recklessly stupid, humiliating his family and destroying his career.
I am very glad for Mr Newmark that he is able to check into residential psychiatric care and not only that do it at a time of his choosing. I am assuming he has been referred by his GP and that the NHS waiting lists in mental health are extremely low, which would be ironic given the huge cuts in mental health provision by the government he represented until his recent exposure.
If he is mentally ill, and I have no reason to doubt his word, then I hope he gets the treatment he needs. And I hope everyone else suffering from mental health problems gets the help they need to. There are many people out there in the wide world who are suffering as badly, or worse, than Mr Newmark and until recently there was next to nothing for them.
And perhaps now that Mr Cameron has seen his friend succumb to a damaging illness, he may reconsider the decisions of his government to deal with a crisis in mental health by cutting back on treatment.
Poor Mr Newmark. He wasn’t up to the pressure of his job and his fabulously rich lifestyle wasn’t enough to save him. If a rich man cannot cope, just imagine the poor man, struggling along on the minimum wage without a pot to piss in. The illness is the same, the social strata doesn’t matter, does it?
