Opinions: Do you fancy your secretary?

ALAN CLARK, ex-MP: Yes, of course I do, but I couldn't say why. I suppose the ideal secretary is someone you don't fancy: it's easier to live with. Fancying them generates too much aggro. Are you attaching names to these responses?

MURRAY WHITE, deputy editor, Catholic Herald: It's unbearably painful. It hurts that I see her every day but I can't declare myself. But after the Diggle case men have to crush these thoughts for fear of prison.

NAIM ATTALLAH, chief executive of Mappin and Webb: Yes, yes, of course I do. I'm all for attractive secretaries because the environment in which you work is vital.

RICHARD INGRAMS, journalist: I've fancied pretty well all of them. I've always worked in small huggamugga offices, with people on top of each other - not literally of course.

ALEX HOLLAND, public relations officer: No I don't. She's a bit ofa Sloane. I recruited her because she seemed efficient, bouncy and not entirely unattractive.

CYNTHIA PAYNE: I've never had a secretary. For men it's any port in a storm isn't it?

THOMAS SMITH, antique dealer: No. Most of the secretaries in the antique world are octogenarians. You're much more likely to find fellows finding members of their own sex attractive.

MARCELLE D'ARGY SMITH, editor, Cosmopolitan: I hired a male secretary because I didn't want to appear prejudiced. If I'd found he'd been posing in extremely tight pants when he got the job I would have fired him on the spot.

(Photographs omitted)