Defence minister Linda Reynolds is a decent person. She is honourable and compassionate, as well as someone whose talents and leadership enabled her to rise to be a brigadier in the Army Reserve. I have known her for almost 30 years, and am proud to call her a friend.

But the personal pile-on she has experienced since the story broke about the alleged sexual assault that took place in her office two years ago, in which a member of her staff was the now complainant and another the alleged perpetrator, is a disgrace.

As Reynolds herself has admitted, with the benefit of...