The leader of the House of Lords went to ground last night after claims of sex sessions with a single mother who asked him for help in her battle with the Child Support Agency. Married Tory cabinet minister Lord Strathclyde – a 50-year-old father of three and close confidant of David Cameron – was said to have pursued his casual affair with blonde Birgit Cunningham for almost eight years. He seduced her above a chip shop, had sex with her in his marital home amid his children’s toys, and within the last fortnight stuffed £40 in her handbag before sharing a bottle of wine and a packet of smoked salmon preparatory to a naked romp in her flat.