For my wife, Bridget, for caring for me during my illness .
Thank you.
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Pen & Sword History
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright Andy K. Hughes 2013
ISBN 978 1 84468 089 4
eISBN 9781473831582
The right of Andy K. Hughes to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents
About the Author
A ndy K. Hughes is a successful writer, having already released The Little Book of Big Words (2006), The Pocket Guide to Royal Scandals (2011) and The Pocket Guide to Scandals of the Aristocracy (2012). This is his fourth book, looking at the political scandals from around the world.
Andy spent almost two decades working as a writer, journalist and broadcaster for some of the countrys top organisations, including the BBC, ITN and Londons LBC Radio and Capital Radio. His writing has also appeared around the world on National Public Radio (NPR) in America and worldwide via BFBS (Forces Radio). Andy has previously reported on the ITV morning news and on Magic Radio.
History has always been Andys first love and he studied at undergraduate level at the University of Reading before studying for his MA at Oxford Brookes. Research for his PhD is already under way. Andy K. Hughes is now a school History teacher for 11-18-year-olds.
Writing runs in the family; his mother has written a number of books that include The Pocket Guide to Musicals , The Pocket Guide to Classic Books , The Pocket Guide to Ballroom Dancing , The Pocket Guide to Plays and Playwrights and The Pocket Guide to Pantomimes .
Andy lives in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire with his wife Bridget, but is originally from Shrewsbury in Shropshire. He has four sons from a previous marriage and five grandchildren.
Acknowledgements
I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many people who have given their time and assistance in ways large and small to help me put together this book. First and foremost, my thanks go to my agent (and now friend) Hilary Elston at Straightline Management. Thanks to my wife Bridget, who has again shown incredible patience while I was writing another book and I am indebted to her for her constant support and encouragement.
In addition, I extend my sincere thanks to those who have allowed me to use their photographs, including those who actually went out and took photos for me. They include journalists Nazanine Moshiri, Bill Buckley and Chris Hubbard, as well as friends Verity Bhyre, Aaron Bhyre and Phil Seaman. A big thanks also to gawker.com for their permission to use one of their photographs, and to Jim Fowler in the United States, who has emailed so many people asking for assistance with photographs. Thanks to Hugh Mothersole for his continued support and assistance.
Thanks also for the ongoing IT support from Michael Barry and my son Aaron Mehar-Hughes. Once again, my huge thanks to Nabeelah Ullah, my friend and colleague who has worked tirelessly checking my spelling and grammar. This is the third book she has spent hundreds of man-hours on and I am dreading her calling in the favour! I must thank the staff at Charlton House, the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster and Oxford Brookes University library staff. I need to thank my three sisters, Vicky, Helen and Rachel, for their assistance from checking my spelling to taking photos, as well as for their general words of encouragement. I am also greatly indebted to my parents and step-parents for their support. Thanks to TCS Autos in High Wycombe for keeping my car on the road during my endless hours of research, even in times of difficulty.
Special thanks to the editor Linne Matthews, illustrator Bea Fox and historical consultant Philip Seaman.
Introduction
A History of Political Scandals: Sex, Sleaze and Spin follows on from The Pocket Guide to Royal Scandals (2011) and The Pocket Guide to Scandals of the Aristocracy (2012). In this new book I have tried to offer a mixture of scandals from history right through to today, from Britain and abroad. I have mentioned the MPs expenses scandal, but decided to keep it relatively brief; otherwise this massive subject was in danger of taking over the whole book. The first part of the book looks at Britain, the second part the United States and the third part the rest of the world. Stories are in approximate chronological order but because some scandals occurred over a period of time, the chronology can appear slightly out of sync.
As a writer I had been looking forward to putting this book together. We are surrounded by politicians who just cannot help but behave in an inappropriate manner; sometimes I shake my head in disbelief. In addition though, we are also blessed with some fantastic and fascinating political figures. The scandals include passionate affairs (and their offspring), watching pornography at the taxpayers expense, financial swindling, lies, deceit, arrests, charges, court appearances, bribery, naughty photos (starring in them), naughty videos (starring in them), naughty videos (setting them up) and good old-fashioned punches both with words and with real fists. When it comes to politicians, there really is no shortage of scandal; some have acted in the most outrageous of ways.
Having analysed the concept of scandal in the previous books in this series, I thought it appropriate to summarise by taking a look at a small sample of dictionary explanations of the word:
A publicised incident that brings about disgrace (thefreedictionary.com)
A disgraceful or discreditable action, circumstance etc. (dictionary.com)
An action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing public outrage (oxforddictionaries.com)
An action or event that causes a public feeling of shock and moral disapproval (dictionary.cambridge.org)
A History of Political Scandals has touched on all of these. There is certainly public disgrace, plenty of public shock and more than enough outrage at immoral wrongdoings. Of course it comes as no great surprise that politicians, past and present, can provide us with enough scandal to fill a whole book.
It has been difficult to decide which scandals to include and which to leave out. Whilst not wanting to exclude the big ones like Profumo and Watergate, there is so much already written on these scandals that I have kept explanations of them to a minimum. I hope that rather than doing a big story an injustice, a brief account might inspire people who are new to a story to read about it in more depth elsewhere, while readers who have been around a bit longer might enjoy a brief recap.
