In the first part of the Supper Club interview with The Straits Times on Feb. 15, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck was asked a range of questions pertaining to the upcoming Budget, small medium enterprises and entrepreneurship.

The 46-year-old was then asked about his friend, former MP and Speaker Michael Palmer, who resigned and left politics more than a year ago in December 2012 after his affair was made known.

Until this point of the Q&A, everything was not about politics. And then somehow Teo Ser Luck becomes some kind of Michael Palmer spokesperson.

Q: It has been just over a year since the Punggol East by-election. How is Michael Palmer doing?

"He is doing ok. He has moved on. But you can see that sometimes when a policy is rolled out, he is still concerned and he will give his point of view to me. He will message me, ask me how things are."

And even asked how Michael Palmer feels.

Q: You think he misses politics?

"That chapter of his life is closed. At this moment in his life he is doing ok. He went back to being a lawyer. He has his own firm, he joined a new partnership Quahe Woo & Palmer (in April last year)."

And this is the part Teo Ser Luck avoids answering the question.

Q: How was it going through that episode with him?

"Michael and I are the same age, and we entered politics together in the same year. We were introduced together as candidates and we are from the same GRC. So we became really good friends and are still good friends today."

"It hit me not because there were rumours, but because a good friend of mine, my parliamentary colleague, somebody who has been close to me, in terms of helping one another out in constituency and parliament work, is no longer there with me in parliament. Because of that, there is a certain sense of loss."

 Source: Teo Ser Luck Facebook

Read the rest of the interview here

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