Rumours of Joerg Haider’s secret gay life

Speculation over a secret double life of Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider has come into the open with claims that he had a gay lover. A senior member of Haider’s party has admitted the pair were more than close. Stefan Petzner told Austrian radio Haider was the “man of his life” and that they had gone “beyond friendship.”

After Haider’s death, Petzner was seen as his anointed successor. But these admissions may harm his political hopes in conservative Austria.

Haider died in a high-speed car crash; police reports said he had been drinking. Now it is claimed he had been seen in a gay bar hours before the accident, some say after a furious row with the man who now claims to have been his lover.

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