Bristol and Levi call off engagement.

One of the strangest sights of last year was to watch the way the Republican National Convention greeted young Levi Johnston and his pregnant girlfriend, Bristol Palin.

For a party which has always championed abstinence over sexual education, the young couple were greeted as some sort of homecoming heroes, presumably because they had decided not to abort and had promised to marry.

There were many of us who felt as if we were watching one of the the most public shotgun weddings in history; and it's no great surprise that, now that the cameras are off them, the young couple have decided not to go ahead with the wedding which Sarah Palin's campaign aspirations demanded.

Bristol Palin, the oldest daughter of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, has ended the courtship with the father of her infant son.

During the 2008 US presidential campaign, Bristol's pregnancy became public and an announcement on the young couple's engagement soon followed.

While some reports paint the picture of a mutually amicable split, the tabloid Star magazine features Levi's sister Mercede dishing the dirt on animosity between the teens. The New York Daily News has the highlights.

I can't say that I am remotely surprised that this particular piece of political theatre has ended in the way in which it has. Reports at the time indicated that his Facebook page explicitly stated that he did not want children.

Of course, this was a classic case of Republican hypocrisy, where they cried that this young couple's privacy was sacrosanct, whilst shamelessly parading them in front of cheering Republican hordes.

I thought at the time that, if this debacle carried any lesson, it was that the "abstinence only" programme which Sarah Palin championed simply didn't work. I have seen nothing since to change my mind.

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Tags: Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin, Levi Johnstone, Republican values