AS THE foul-mouthed singer of The Sex Pistols he was the scourge of the establishment. But shortly before he became punk’s most notorious star, Johnny Rotten (pictured) attended late-night drinking sessions at the House of Commons – and saw MPs mingling with “working girls”.
Accompanying the singer to parties at the Palace of Westminster was his pal Linda Ashby.
The star – 58 and known by his real name John Lydon – says in his autobiography, Anger Is An Energy, that MPs and escorts would go off with each other.
He recalls how Ashby introduced him to Jeremy Thorpe, the then-leader of the Liberal Party. Lydon says it was just two months before he and Thorpe became Britain’s most notorious figures, placing the meeting in 1976.
Thorpe was forced to resign on May 9 that year when he found himself at the centre of an explosive sex scandal.
Lydon writes: “There was a late-night drinking thing in Parliament and she (Linda) had access to it, so she took me… There we were… surrounded by all of these MPs… discussing who is going with what escort.”
Lydon thinks many of the MPs would have mistaken him for a male escort. He says: “I suppose they thought I was a male prostitute, with a slightly different way of dressing.”
He writes touchingly about his friendship with Ashby. He says: “I loved her to pieces. We had no relationship of any kind, other than being equal nutters, I suppose. She was a working girl.” – Mail On Sunday