British political scandals

This is a list of British political scandals, real or alleged:

• 1700s
  • South Sea Bubble (1720)
• 1910s
  • Marconi scandal of insider trading by Rufus Isaacs and others (1912)
• 1920s
  • Zinoviev Letter (1924)
• 1930s
  • Jimmy Thomas budget leak (1936)
• 1940s
  • Hugh Dalton budget leak (1947)
  • John Belcher corruptly influenced - led to Lynskey Tribunal
• 1950s
  • Crichel Down and the resignation of Thomas Dugdale (1954)
  • Suez Crisis (1956)
• 1960s
  • Soviet agent John Vassall working for Minister Thomas Galbraith (1962)
  • Profumo Affair (1963)
• 1970s
  • Corrupt Architect John Poulson and links to Reginald Maudling, T. Dan Smith and others (1972-4)
  • Earl Jellicoe and Lord Lambton sex scandal (1973)
  • John Stonehouse's faked suicide (1974)
  • Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe's affair with Norman Scott and shooting of Scott's dog (1976) and later acquittal on charges of conspiracy to murder (1979)
• 1980s
  • Cecil Parkinson and Flora Keays (1983)
  • Al Yamamah contract alleged to have been obtained by bribery (1985)
  • Westland affair (1986)
  • Jeffrey Archer and the prostitute allegations (1986), and his subsequent conviction for perjury (2001)
  • Dame Shirley Porter's "homes-for-votes" gerrymandering scandal ((1987-1989)
  • BSE (1989)
• 1990s
  • Nicholas Ridley comparing the EU to the Third Reich (1990)
  • Arms-to-Iraq and the closely connected Iraqi Supergun affair (1990)
  • David Mellor resignation after press disclose his affair with Antonia de Sancha (1992)
  • Michael Mates gift of watch to Asil Nadir (1993)
  • "Back to Basics", a succession of sex scandals in John Major's government which led to the resignation of Tim Yeo and the Earl of Caithness , among others (1994)
  • Cash-for-questions affair involving Neil Hamilton, Tim Smith and Mohamed Al-Fayed (1994)
  • Jonathan Aitken and the hotel bill allegations, and subsequent conviction for perjury (1995)
  • Double resignation rocks government. Peter Mandelson, Trade and Industry Secretary, resigns after failing to disclose £373,000 loan from Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson. (1998)
  • Ron Davies resigns from the cabinet after being robbed by a man he met at Clapham Common and then lying about it (1998)
• 2000s
  • Keith Vaz, Peter Mandelson and the Hinduja brothers. Mandelson forced to resign again due to misleading statements. (2001)
  • In 2002 Edwina Currie revealed that she had had an affair, beginning in 1984, with John Major before he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This was criticised more harshly than may otherwise have been the case as Major had frequently pushed his Back To Basics agenda, which was a form of moral absolutism.
  • The Burrell affair - allegations about the behavior of the British Royal Family and their servants with possible constitutional implications. (2002)
  • Ron Davies stands down from Welsh assembly after he goes "badger-watching". (2003)
  • Death of Dr David Kelly. Under pressure after being misquoted by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan as saying Tony Blair's Labour government had knowingly "sexed up" a report into Iraq's weapons of mass destruction — the "September Dossier", Dr David Kelly killed himself on 17 July 2003. The Government was cleared, and the BBC heavily criticised in the ensuing Hutton Inquiry, leading to the resignations of the BBC's chairman and director-general.

See also

• List of British political defections