In the same boat and in a similar bed

CLAIMS of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump are grabbing headlines, but it’s nothing new in a world where sex and politics are all too frequent bed-fellows.

President Jacob Zuma’s acquittal in 2006 of raping an HIV-positive woman still stalks him, with Sunday Times cartoonist Zapiro often portraying him with a shower nozzle on his bald head. Zuma insisted during his trial that taking a shower after sex was an adequate anti-HIV precaution.

French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and former Israeli president Moshe Katzav have all been accused of sexual misconduct. Bill Clinton was impeached for his sexual affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky while he was US president. He was later cleared by the Senate.

Strauss-Kahn lost his job as IMF chief because of rape allegations which were eventually settled in a civil suit.

Berlusconi was notorious for his “bunga bunga” sex parties. He was accused of paying a 17-year-old dancer, known as “Ruby the Heartstealer”, for sexual services.

In 2013 he was found guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but he appealed and the sentence was quashed before he spent time in jail.