 Commentators were quick to refer to Major's previous 'Back to Basics' platform to throw charges of hypocrisy.An obituary of Tony Newton in "The Daily Telegraph" claimed that if Newton had not kept the affair a closely guarded secret "it is highly unlikely that Major would have become prime minister".In 1993 Major had also sued two magazines, "New Statesman and Society" and "Scallywag", as well as their distributors, for reporting rumours of an affair with Clare Latimer, a Downing Street caterer, even though at least one of the magazines had said that the rumours were false.