The shadow of “Westminster sleaze” again looms over the Houses of Parliament following the emergence of a fresh spate of lurid allegations about the behaviour of Britain’s elected representatives.
An unnamed Conservative MP is reportedly facing suspension from his party after being accused of watching a pornographic video on his smartphone in the Commons in full view of colleagues.
Meanwhile, a female Labour MP has claimed she was the made the subject of “vulgar sexual comments” by a member of her own party, casting further light on the casual sexism women in politics face every day following the furore caused by a Mail on Sunday story published over the weekend, in which another unnamed Tory MP made accusations of a sexual nature against Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner.
The Sunday Times reported on the same day that 56 MPs, including three Cabinet ministers and two Shadow Cabinet members, were under investigation over claims of sexual misconduct and had been referred to Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.
Of course, this is hardly the first time in living memory that the conduct of Britain’s political leaders has been found wanting – here is an overview of some of the biggest scandals of the last 30 years.
A surprising affair
The publication of Conservative MP Edwina Currie’s diaries in 2002 offered the eyebrow-raising revelation that she had had an affair with future Conservative prime minister Sir John Major between 1984 and 1988 when she was a backbencher and he the party’s whip and both were married.
David Mellor, aggrieved having himself been forced to resign from Mr Major’s Cabinet in September 1992 over an extramarital affair of his own, observed wryly that history might have been very different if his former boss’s infidelity had become public knowledge while he was still in office.
Cash-for-questions
The phrase “Westminster sleaze” first gained national prominence as a result of the “cash-for-questions” affair in 1994, when Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith were forced to resign from government jobs after then-Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed revealed he had given them money in brown paper envelopes to ask specific questions in the Commons.
The scandal also led to the jailing of former defence minister Jonathan Aitken over secret meetings with Saudi representatives and prompted the creation of Lord Nolan’s “seven principles of public life”, which all public officials are now expected to adhere to – selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
‘A moment of madness’
Welsh Labour leader Ron Davies, Tony Blair’s secretary of state for Wales, resigned in late October 1998 after he was mugged at knifepoint by a stranger he had met on Clapham Common, south London, having agreed to go for a meal with the man, losing his wallet, mobile phone and keys in the incident in an area then-notorious as a pickup spot.
Mr Davies was married at the time but divorced the year after his fall from grace.
“It was a moment of madness for which I have subsequently paid a very, very heavy price and I am deeply sorry,” he famously said. “I bitterly regret it.”
New Labour resignations
Mr Blair served as PM from 1997 to 2007 and was forced to sign off on the resignation of a number of Cabinet ministers for a variety of transgressions, notably his transport secretary Stephen Byers, who reluctantly stepped down in late May 2002 after it emerged that one of his special advisers, Jo Moore, had sent an email on the day of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City that advised: “It’s now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.”
Peter Mandelson was meanwhile forced to step down twice, first over an undeclared home loan from a fellow minister and, secondly, for allegedly trying to help a donor to the Millennium Dome with a passport application.
David Blunkett also quit twice over allegedly trying to fast-track a visa for a lover’s nanny and ahead of an investigation into a paternity test company, which eventually cleared him of any conflict of interest.
The expenses scandal
The truly operatic parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, sparked by a freedom of information request into members’ financial claims, rocked Westminster to its core and claimed the scalps of a number of members of Gordon Brown’s government, including Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears and Geoff Hoon, House speaker Michael Martin and a slew of both Labour and Conservative backbenchers and peers from the House of Lords.
The public outcry raged for months and jokes about ornamental duck houses were commonplace.
Speeding ticket
During the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition years, Lib Dem secretary of state for climate Chris Huhne was forced to resign in February 2012 after being charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to a speeding offence in 2003.
Rather than simply accept the fine and accompanying penalty points, Mr Huhne had persuaded his then-wife Vicki Pryce to take the fall so that he could avoid being banned from driving, an accusation he denied until he faced trial a year later, whereupon he changed his plea to guilty, resigned as an MP and left the Privy Council.
He and Ms Pryce were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in March 2013 to eight months in prison, Mr Huhne serving nine weeks before being released. He was later immortalised on a vase made by Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry.
‘Casting couch’
A more disturbing scandal to hit the same party were the allegations of sexual harassment made against chief executive Chris Rennard in a Channel 4 News report broadcast in February 2013.
One of his accusers, Alison Smith, claimed the senior official had made unwanted overtures to women at party events and operated a “casting couch” policy, blocking those who rejected his advances from progressing within the party ranks.
Lord Rennard denied the allegations of “improper touching” and said he was left “disappointed and angry”.
His party membership was suspended for seven months in 2014 while an investigation was carried out before being restored when police found insufficient evidence to bring charges and it was deemed that no further action was required.
‘Plebgate’
On 19 September 2012, David Cameron’s newly appointed chief whip, Andrew Mitchell, became involved in a row with PC Toby Rowland, guarding Downing Street, who asked him not to ride his bicycle before leaving the main gate, to which Mr Mitchell allegedly replied: “Best you learn your f***ing place. You don’t run this f***ing government... You’re f***ing plebs.”
The minister apologised when the story became public but disputed aspects of the officer’s account, particularly the use of the word “pleb”, before resigning exactly a month after the incident in question, only to subsequently pursue libel actions against The Sun newspaper and PC Rowland and lose both in 2014.
A certain senior civil servant by the name of Sue Gray conducted an internal Whitehall inquiry into the affair.
Greensill
Since turning on his heel and leaving Downing Street with a nonchalant hum in the wake of the Brexit vote in summer 2016, Mr Cameron has been accused of exploiting his past influence to lobby ministers including former health secretary Matt Hancock and chancellor Rishi Sunak on behalf of Greensill Capital.
Mr Cameron has denied any wrongdoing.
Cummings, Hancock and ‘Partygate’
Boris Johnson’s government has been very nearly brought to its knees on several occasions in relation to violations of its own lockdown rules introduced in 2020 and 2021 to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Senior adviser Dominic Cummings did not resign after admitting driving to Barnard Castle in County Durham “to test his eyesight” – an episode that particularly enraged the public – Mr Hancock did go after being caught on camera breaching social distancing orders in a clinch with Gina Coladangelo, an aide with whom he was having an affair, while Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak have so far declined to step down despite being fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending illicit parties at Downing Street while the public stayed at home.
The redoubtable Ms Gray is again due to pass judgement, with more fixed-penalty notices understood to be forthcoming.
