Telling tales

The newspapers had plenty to fill their pages with last month after nanny Abbie Gibson spilled the beans about marital difficulties between her former employers David and Victoria Beckham - while a High Court judge refused to grant the celebrity couple a ban on the nanny publishing her tales, on the grounds that much of the tittle-tattle was already out in the public domain, and amid legal opinions that the Beckhams' image of a happy marriage was a 'brand' they were selling to support their many product endorsements, so criticisms of it were in the public interest. However, what was not so clearly settled was the matter of Abbie Gibson having broken the confidentiality clause in her employment contract. Professional Nanny contributor and agency owner Helen Kewley commented, 'I imagine that this nanny has earned a huge lump sum, but her career and credibility will be blown. Integrity is valued in all jobs, so no one would ever trust someone who sold her employer down the river for money. Confidentiality is self-regulating, in the sense that anyone who breaks it will only gain in the short term.'