 The novels leave open the nature and extent of Widmerpool's sexuality, an aspect on which critics have often speculated. Stephen McGregor of the Spectator describes him as "impotent"; another commentator used the words "sexual incompetent". At school he gets Akworth a fellow-pupil, expelled for sending a presumably compromising note to Peter Templer; afterwards, Jenkins and Stringham discuss Templer's belief that Widmerpool was motivated by sexual jealousy. A few years later, Jenkins recalls how Widmerpool recoiled when touched gently on the arm by Berthe, a French girl encountered during the pair's summer sojourn at La Grenadière, shortly after leaving school.
