A man need not be a Byron to get by

It is a curious fact, well attested by history, that a downright ugly man need never despair of attracting women, even pretty ones. The recent uproar over John Prescott and his mistress is a good example. Of course this may have been a case of power acting as an aphrodisiac. Henry Kissinger, a keen student of such matters, has always insisted that power, or even mere office, is a sexual magnet. I recall him leaning across a dinner table, at a time when the antics of the late Alan Clark were in the headlines, and seeking from me an explanation of Clark’s success. He was particularly struck by the conquest of what Clark called ‘the Coven’ — the wife of a South African judge and their two daughters (a third wasn’t interested). ‘Sure, he was a minister,’ said Dr Kissinger, ‘but he wasn’t even in the Cabinet.’

Power and potency are closely related.