This is a list of political scandals in the United Kingdom in chronological order. Scandals implicating political figures or governments of the UK, often reported in the mass media, have long had repercussions for their popularity. Issues in political scandals have included alleged or proven financial and sexual matters, or various other allegations or actions taken by politicians that led to controversy. In British media and political discourse, such scandals have sometimes been referred to as political sleaze since the 1990s. Notable scandals include the Marconi scandal, Profumo affair and the 2009 expenses scandal.
1890s Liberator Building Society scandal, in which the Liberal Party MP Jabez Balfour was exposed as running several fraudulent companies to conceal financial losses. Balfour fled to Argentina, but was eventually arrested and imprisoned.
1910s Marconi scandal of insider trading by Liberal Party Ministers including: Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, the Attorney General The Master of Elibank, Lord Murray, the Treasurer of the Liberal Party, David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, Postmaster General; was falsely implicated. (1912) Shell Crisis of 1915, which led to the fall of H. H. Asquith's Liberal Party government during World War I.
1920s Lloyd George (Liberal) and the honours scandal. Honours sold for large campaign contributions (1922) Zinoviev Letter (1924)
1930s Jimmy Thomas (National Labour) budget leak (1936)
1940s Hugh Dalton (Labour) budget leak (1947) John Belcher (Labour) corruptly influenced the Board of Trade – led to Lynskey Tribunal
1950s British Malayan headhunting scandal (1952). Involved generals, the military, politicians, and activists, sparked by the Daily Worker's leaked photos of war crimes (notably headhunting) committed by British troops during the Malayan Emergency. (During Conservative rule) Crichel Down and the resignation of Thomas Dugdale (Conservative) (1954) Suez Crisis (1956) (during Conservative rule)
1960s Vassall affair (1963): civil servant John Vassall, working for Minister Tam Galbraith, was revealed to be a spy for the Soviet Union and was arrested. The affair was investigated in the Vassall tribunal. Profumo affair (1963): Secretary of State for War John Profumo (Conservative) had an affair with Christine Keeler (to whom he had been introduced by artist Stephen Ward), who was having an affair with a Soviet spy at the same time. The Robert Boothby (Conservative), Tom Driberg (Labour), Kray twins affair and consequent cover-up involving senior politicians of both parties. The rumour was that the politicians "had been importuning males at a dog track and were involved with gangs of thugs who dispose of their money at the tracks". The Daily Mirror published some details of the matter and was falsely sued for libel. Britain's Nuclear Bomb Tests Scandal (1950s and 1960s): the catastrophic effects of nuclear testing in Australia and the South Pacific. Very serious environmental damage and health conditions emerged. Many communities and nationalities such as the Aborigine, South Pacific islanders, Australian and British were affected. Health conditions such as cancers, deformities, birth defects, premature deaths, nervous conditions and mental illnesses were reported. Genetic damage from ionising radiation, affecting many generations has also been reported. Campaigns to release MOD documents on blood tests and receive compensation have been continuing.
1970s Corrupt architect John Poulson and links to Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, Labour council leader T. Dan Smith and others (1972–1974): Maudling resigned, Smith sentenced to imprisonment. Earl Jellicoe and Lord Lambton sex scandal (1973): Conservatives, junior defence minister Lambton is arrested for using prostitutes and Cabinet minister Jellicoe also confesses. Labour MP John Stonehouse's faked suicide (1974) Harold Wilson's (Labour) Prime Minister's Resignation Honours (known satirically as the "Lavender List") gives honours to a number of wealthy businessmen. (May 1976) Peter Jay's appointment as British Ambassador to the US by his father in law, the Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan. At the time Jay was a journalist with little diplomatic experience. (1977) "Rinkagate": the Thorpe affair. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was arrested and tried for allegedly paying a hitman to murder his lover, model Norman Scott, while walking his dog on Exmoor; the hitman only shot the dog, Rinka. Thorpe was forced to resign due to his clandestine gay affairs, but was acquitted of conspiracy to murder. Allegations of child sexual abuse committed by Cyril Smith (Liberal Democrat) in the 1960s.
1980s Joseph Kagan (Labour), earlier ennobled by the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson's notorious Lavender List (1976), was convicted of fraud (1980) Cecil Parkinson (Conservative) affair with secretary Sara Keays resulting in their child, Flora Keays (1983) Al-Yamamah arms deal alleged to have been obtained by bribery. Mark Thatcher, the former prime minister's son, was alleged to have been involved but denied the allegations. (1985) Westland affair (1986): Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine (Conservative) resigned from his Cabinet job in a disagreement with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Westland affair. Heseltine walked out of a meeting at Number 10 as his views on the future of the Westland helicopter company were being ignored at the time. Jeffrey Archer (Conservative) and the prostitute allegations (1986), and his subsequent conviction for perjury (2001) Westminster cemeteries scandal (1987) Edwina Currie (Conservative) resigns as a junior Health minister after claiming that millions of British eggs were infected with salmonella, stating that "most of [British] egg production" was infected (1988) "Homes for votes" gerrymandering scandal involving the Conservative-led Westminster City Council in London (1987–1989)
1990s Arms-to-Iraq affair, concerning the Conservative government endorsed sale of arms by British companies to Iraq, and the closely connected Iraqi Supergun affair (1990) David Mellor (Conservative) resignation after press disclosure of his affair with Antonia de Sancha and gratis holiday from a daughter of a PLO official (1992) Tampongate: fallout following the publication of the transcript of a 1988 phone call between Charles III (then the Prince of Wales) and his then-lover Camilla Parker Bowles (1993) Michael Mates' (Conservative) gift of a watch (inscribed with "Don't let the bastards grind you down") to Asil Nadir, when Mates was candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and authorities were investigating Nadir for fraud (1993) Monklandsgate dominated the 1994 Monklands East by-election. It mainly consisted of allegations of sectarian spending discrepancies between Protestant Airdrie and Catholic Coatbridge, fuelled by the fact that all 17 of the ruling Labour group were Roman Catholics. (1994) Back to Basics, a Conservative government policy slogan portrayed by opponents and the press as a morality campaign to compare it with a contemporaneous 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 Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith and businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed (1994) Jonathan Aitken (Conservative) and the Paris Ritz Hotel bill allegations, and his subsequent conviction for perjury after his failed libel action against The Guardian, resulting in Aitken being only the third person to have to resign from the Privy Council in the 20th century. (1995) Conservative MP Jerry Hayes was "outed" as a homosexual by the News of the World with the headline "TORY MP 2-TIMED WIFE WITH UNDER-AGE GAY LOVER". Hayes had met Young Conservative Paul Stone at the 1991 Conservative conference and that same evening, "committed a lewd act which was in breach of the law at the time". Stone had been 18 at the time, whilst the legal age for homosexual sex in 1991 was 21. (1997) Bernie Ecclestone was involved in a political scandal when it transpired he had given the Labour Party a million pound donation – which raised eyebrows when the incoming Labour government changed its policy to allow Formula One to continue being sponsored by tobacco manufacturers. The Labour Party returned the donation when the scandal came to light. (1997) Peter Mandelson, Labour Trade and Industry Secretary, resigned after failing to disclose £373,000 loan from Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson. (1998) Lobbygate: Derek Draper (political advisor to Labour) and Jon Mendelsohn (a Labour political organiser) boasted to an undercover journalist that they could sell access to politicians and create tax breaks for their clients. After this scandal the phrase "cash for access" emerged. (1998) Ron Davies (Labour) resigned from the cabinet after being robbed by a man he met at Clapham Common (a well-known gay cruising ground) and then lying about it (1998)
2000s Jeffrey Archer's (Conservative) perjury trial and imprisonment (2000) Officegate (2001). Henry McLeish, Labour First Minister of Scotland, failed to refund the House of Commons for income he had received from the sub-let of his constituency office in Glenrothes while still a Westminster MP. Keith Vaz (Labour), Peter Mandelson (Labour) and the Hinduja brothers. Mandelson was forced to resign for a second time due to misleading statements. (2001) Labour government special adviser Jo Moore, within an hour of the September 11 attacks, sent an email to the press office of her department suggesting: "It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?" Although prior to the catastrophic collapse of the towers, the phrase "a good day to bury bad news" (not actually used by Moore) has since been used to refer to other instances of attempting to hide one item of news behind a more publicised issue. Betsygate (2002), which revolved around the level of pay that Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith's wife Elisabeth received as his diary secretary. In 2002, Edwina Currie (Conservative) revealed that she had had an affair, beginning in 1984, with John Major (Conservative) before he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Major had frequently pushed his Back To Basics agenda (see above), which was taken by the media as a form of moral absolutism. Ron Davies (Labour) stood down from the Welsh assembly following accusations of illicit gay sex. Davies had claimed he had been badger-watching in the area. (2003) The apparent suicide of Dr. David Kelly and the Hutton Inquiry. On 17 July 2003, Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence, apparently committed suicide after being misquoted by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan as saying that Tony Blair's Labour government had knowingly "sexed up" the "September Dossier", a report into Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The government was cleared of wrongdoing, while the BBC was strongly criticised by the subsequent inquiry, leading to the resignation of the BBC's chairman and director-general. In April 2004, Beverly Hughes (Labour) was forced to resign as minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter Terrorism when it was shown that she had been informed of procedural improprieties concerning the granting of visas to certain categories of workers from Eastern Europe. She had earlier told the House of Commons that if she had been aware of such facts she would have done something about it.