I believe David Laws when he told the world that he wanted to keep his private life private.

He chose not to tell the Commons Fees Office about his long term relationship with James Lundie, fearing the details would leak out.

He maintains he did not break the rules (those infamous “rules” again) because the two of them were not spouses.

I feel sorry for Laws. It is terrible for him to be brought down in this way.

The Guardian’s Michael White compares Laws’ career destroying claims for £40,000 over eight years with David Cameron’s - who maxed out his claims on the Additional Costs Allowance (as it then was) solely on mortgage interest for his substantial home in Witney.

No claims for gas, electricity, council tax. Just giant claims for mortgage interest. Year after year. All within the rules.

The expenses saga is full of individual stories of rough justice.

Some commentators such as the Independent’s John Rentoul suggest the Laws episode will wipe the smirk off those holier-than-thou Lib Dem faces.

I have to admit I have some sympathy with this point of view, though I don’t like admitting it to others or, indeed, to myself.

The fact that I mention it at all derives from my personal experience as a candidate in the general election, just gone.

My Liberal Democrat opponent in Pendle, a feeble and inarticulate barrister, Afzal Anwar, put out newsletters focussing on my expenses.

He was particularly exercised by my claims for food. (This was an allowable expense that was subsequently replaced by a £25 a day “subsistence allowance”. Now I believe the whole thing has been swept away.)

One photograph showed a stony faced Anwar holding a bulging Tesco bag aloft with a caption proclaiming that he would buy his own food, unlike me, whose grocery shopping is paid for by you, the taxpayer!

I thought this was the Lib Dems acting just as they do, in time honoured fashion. Not nice but par for the course.

Then, at a mock election at a local secondary school, Anwar tells the student audience that, had I been an “ordinary” person, I would have been prosecuted for fiddling my expenses.

Whoa! Easy on!

I didn’t expect this.

I choose to say nothing. I bite my lip. Inside, I am furious.

It would have been totally inappropriate to respond to this jaw dropping accusation in front of such an audience.

However, a few days later, at a meeting to discuss Kashmir, I privately tell Anwar he was completely out of order in what he said.

I remind him that a former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, had claimed for food too. It is no secret. In fact, he claimed more than me.

This cuts no ice.

Then, says the barrister, he should be prosecuted too!

I wonder what Afzal Anwar would have to say about the tragedy of David Laws?

Best not to ask.