Luc Ferry, who is also an accomplished writer and media commentator, was tryingto make the point that in France - unlike in other countries - there are laws that prevent the reporting of private peccadilloes.
He told a Canal-Plus TV chat show that he had it on good authority that a certain ex-minister had been "caught at an orgy in Morocco with young boys". He did not divulge any names.
The rumour was widely known, he said, buthad never been reported because the ex-minister was protected by the law.
The revelations came as another French politician, George Tron, resigned from government after being accused of sexuallyharassing female staff. Mr Tron denied the allegations.
Mr Ferry presumably intended to defend the French system - showing how journalists in France cannot simply shovel gossip into the public arena. Instead, he found himself at the centre of a monumental row, accused of doing exactly that: shovelling out gossip.
