Infamous Scandals

by Anne Williams

  Members of Clinton’s staff became suspicious because no intern had ever advanced so quickly up the political ladder. Lewinsky was also given a special pass, which entitled her to enter the White House at night and at weekends, allegedly creeping in away from prying eyes.

  However, at the Pentagon things were not going so well for Lewinsky. She couldn’t handle her day to day tasks and mismanaged her boss’s tight schedule, which resulted in her getting the sack. Clinton immediately stepped in once again and asked a favour of UN Ambassador Bill Richardson, if he would give her a job. Richardson agreed, but then the news of their illicit affair was leaked and the scandal was out.

  The blue dress

  The way the story leaked out was as follows. During 1997 the relationship between the president and Lewinsky continued, even though Lewinsky had left the White House. Lewinsky made friends with a woman, Linda Tripp, when they both worked in the Pentagon’s public affairs office. After Lewinsky foolishly revealed to Tripp that she was having a physical relationship with the president, Tripp secretly recorded the telephone conversations between Lewinsky and the president. Tripp also acted as an adviser to Lewinsky, telling her to keep the presents that Clinton had bought her during their affair. She told Lewinsky not to have a blue dress stained with Clinton’s semen dry cleaned, so that there would be evidence of what had happened between them, should this be needed for evidence later on.

  In the meantime, Clinton was the subject of a court case involving a woman named Paula Jones, who was suing him for sexual harrasment. The case was dismissed, but Clinton paid Jones a large sum to settle the matter out of court. In the process of this, Lewinsky gave evidence denying that she had had a sexual relationship with the president, but Linda Tripp refused to lie under oath in this instance and gave the tapes she had made of the telephone conversations to an independent counsel, Kenneth Starr. Starr later issued a report alleging that Lewinsky and Clinton had had oral sex in the Oval Office and in other rooms at the West Wing of the White House. This rang true in many quarters, since Clinton had also been the subject of another long-running sex scandal involving Gennifer Flowers, a woman from Arkansas who claimed that she had had a 12-year affair with him while he was governor of that state, and had even had a child by him. (The child was apparently given up for adoption.)

  The cigar tube

  Clinton began by denying his affair with Lewinsky, swearing under oath that he had never had ‘a sexual affair’ ‘ sexual relations’, or a ‘sexual relationship’ with her. He categorically stated on American national television on 26 January 1998, ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky’. He later claimed that he did not include oral sex in his definition of ‘sexual relations’.

  Next, he managed to find a way to argue around his claim, ‘There is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship’, claiming that this statement was true insofar as, when he made it, the relationship was actually over: as he famously remarked, ‘it depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is’.

  However, Starr confronted the president with the evidence that he had obtained a blue dress from Lewinsky that had his semen stain on it. Starr also told the president that Lewinsky had described how she and Clinton had conducted their sex play in the Oval Office, with Clinton pushing a cigar tube into her vagina. Faced with this evidence, Clinton backed down and admitted to having misled the court, admitting that he had had an ‘inappropriate intimate contact’ with Lewinsky. However, he said that he had not committed perjury, because he believed that oral sex was not real sex. He went on to claim that he was passive during these encounters, and that Lewinsky had performed oral sex on him rather than the other way round. When Lewinsky denied this, Clinton’s lawyer tried to persuade the court that he had remembered it all differently to her.

  Serious and comical

  The Lewinsky affair was finally proved and, at the same time, one of the most serious and comical sex scandals of the Clinton administration made the headlines. Clinton’s attempts to evade the truth in the Lewinsky case came at the end of several claims from other women about his sexual conduct over the years, and reinforced the public image of him as a sexually voracious man who was periodically unfaithful to his wife. However, in this case, he had tried, on the face of it, to pervert the course of justice by lying about what had happened between him and the young intern, and as such was suspected of perjury. Steps were taken to impeach him in 1998 by the US House of Representatives, but after a 21-day trial, the Senate did not achieve the two-thirds majority required to convict and remove the president from office under the laws of the Constitution.

  Consequently, Clinton remained in office, but his reputation was severely damaged and many felt that he could no longer be trusted. Not only did he appear to have lied under oath, but he had begun a sexual relationship with a young woman (she was only 21 years old at the time) who was half his age, and many regarded this not just as inappropriate, but as immoral, or – at the very least – showing a disregard for his presidential responsibilities.

  John Major

  John Major, the prime minister of Britain from 1990 to 1997, had a reputation in office of being the ‘grey man’ of politics. His image was one of a dutiful, somewhat unimaginative man who in his personal life valued his privacy and his family, and amused himself with such innocent activities as playing cricket. However, long after he retired from politics, it was revealed that for four years he had been having a passionate affair with a colleague, and that he was by no means the simple, straightforward man that all had assumed him to be.

  Controversial and outspoken

  Edwina Currie, the ex-lover who revealed the scandal, had been one of the leading Conservative ministers in Margaret Thatcher’s government, along with John Major. Born Edwina Cohen in Liverpool, Lancashire, to an Orthodox Jewish family, she had always been something of a rebel, refusing to take on what she referred to as ‘religious mumbo jumbo’ of judaism. She was a very bright student, and went on from school to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, later taking a further degree in Economics in London. For ten years after that she worked as a city councillor in Birmingham, then stood for Parliament in 1983 and was elected.

  As a member of parliament, she became well known in the media for her controversial, outspoken views, making a contrast to the careful speeches of her colleagues. In 1986 she reached the peak of her career by becoming a Junior Health Minister in Margaret Thatcher’s administration. However, two years later she was forced to resign because she made a tactless remark about eggs, saying that most of the eggs in Britain were affected by salmonella. Whether true or not, this caused a storm, and British farmers pressurised the government to have her sacked.

  Spectacular passion

  She left her post as minister and continued her political work as an MP until she lost her seat in the 1997 General Election. In the years that followed, she became a media star, hosting a radio chat show called Late Night Currie and writing a series of raunchy novels, one of which, A Parliamentary Affair, was thought to have been based on her own experience. In 1997 her marriage to accountant Ray Currie ended in divorce after 25 years, and she went on to marry John Jones, a retired detective. But it was not until the year 2002 that she published her diaries, which caused a huge scandal, because she admitted for the first time that she had had an affair with the former Prime Minister John Major.

  According to the diaries, the affair with ‘B’, as she called him, had continued for four years, from 1984 to 1988. Her account revealed Major as a passionate lover and she called their sex life ‘spectacular’.

  ‘So why did it start?’ she began. ‘Because I was unhappy with a husband forever slumped snoring in front of the television, not helpful or interested in what I was trying to do . . . Then B came along and he was so nice and so attractive, and so quiet in public that it was a challenge to unearth the real person and to seduce him – easy!
And it was unexpectedly, spectacularly good, for such a long time . . .’

  The story went on to describe how she fell in love with Major and explained that as both of them were working away from home, they had plenty of time to seek out each other’s company. They were also united by a common interest in politics, which neither of their spouses apparently shared. In addition, Currie described Major as kind and courteous to women, which was a rarity in the ‘men’s club’ of Parliament. The two lovers had very different styles – Major was, on the face of it, dull and steady, while Currie was flamboyant and extrovert – but, according to her, that was why they were so attracted to each other. However, in the long run neither felt there was any future to the affair, since they were both married, so eventually they ended it. Afterwards, Currie was very sad, saying in her diaries, ‘I didn’t expect to love this man, but I do, very much indeed . . . I weep for what I don’t have.’

  Back to basics

  The political world was astonished by the revelations in Edwina Currie’s diaries, and the press had a field day joking about Major’s new image, no longer as the ‘grey man’ of Parliament but as a roving Casanova who had generated such passion from his ex-lover. Major himself responded sheepishly to the furore that followed the publication of the diaries, saying only, ‘It is the one event in my life of which I am most ashamed. My wife Norma has known of this matter for many years and has long forgiven me.’ But although it seemed like a public relations disaster for Major at the time, in the long term the scandal may have endeared him to the public, because now he seemed rather more human and somewhat less boring than he had done before.

  There was a serious side to the scandal, however. During his term as prime minister, Major had initiated a ‘Back to Basics’ campaign promoting the virtues of traditional family life. This proved extremely unpopular with the public, and was eventually abandoned. But while it was still in operation, several Conservative members of parliament, who had been exposed in the press as having had extramarital affairs, were asked to resign from important governmental positions. In retrospect, considering that Major himself had had a four-year affair with Currie during his own marriage, this smacked of hypocricy, and critics were quick to point out that Major’s reputation was tarnished as a result. Also, it was pointed out that if the affair had been revealed at the time it took place, Major might very well not have been asked to become prime minister and form a government in the wake of Thatcher’s administration. Instead, the way would have been open to the other main contender, Michael Heseltine, whose policies – particularly regarding Britain’s relationship with Europe – were very different. Thus, the course of history might have been changed had the liaison between Major and Currie become known earlier.

  Money or revenge?

  Commentators also speculated as to why Currie had chosen to reveal the affair in her diaries. Some felt that her motive was a financial one – such scandalous revelations would, of course, help to sell her diaries. Others speculated that she had felt deeply scorned when her name did not feature in Major’s diaries, given the fact that she had worked closely with him for many years, and that she had published details of the affair in revenge for being ignored. She herself admitted that she had felt hurt that he had failed to mention her, but denied that she had published the story out of revenge.

  Whatever her reasons for telling all, the scandal remains one of the most interesting in the history of recent British politics, giving a flavour of life in parliament from a woman’s point of view, and casting an altogether new light on the ‘grey man’ of politics, John Major.

  John Profumo

  The Profumo Affair was perhaps the most memorable scandal of British politics during the 1960s. It concerned a high-ranking Conservative politician, John Profumo, who had an affair with a high-class call girl, Christine Keeler. This liaison apparently lasted only a few weeks, and normally would have been dismissed as a trivial incident, but when rumours began to circulate that Keeler had also been involved with a senior official from the Soviet government, there were fears that national security could had been breached.

  Brilliant career

  John Profumo was the son of a successful barrister, Albert Profumo, who was an aristocrat of Italian origin, but who lived in Britain. Albert held the title of Baron, given to him by the Sardinian royal family, and when he died his son John took over the title. However, the young Profumo did not use the title in public. John Profumo grew up in the privileged world of the English upper classes, being educated at Harrow, a top private school, and then studying at Oxford University. During World War II, he became a soldier and distinguished himself for his bravery, among other courageous actions helping to organise the D-Day landings in Normandy. He rose to the rank of Brigadier and towards the end of the war, received an OBE for his service to the nation.

  In 1940 he stood as a Conservative candidate in the national elections, won a seat and became the youngest member of parliament to do so. With the Labour landslide at the end of the war, he lost his seat, but by the 1950s he was back in power again and was regarded by the Conservative government as one of their greatest assets. Good looking, intelligent, polite and with many contacts in the higher echelons of society, during the decade his career steadily advanced, until in 1959 he became Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. During this time he also married his glamorous wife, actress Valerie Hobson.

  By 1961 he had become minister of state for war. He was a very busy, successful man who socialised a great deal, and in this capacity he attended a party at Cliveden, the home of one of his friends, Viscount Astor. It was there that he met Christine Keeler. Keeler was a beautiful woman, a model, who epitomised the ‘swinging sixties’ when people of different social backgrounds had begun to mix with each other. Keeler had had a chequered history, having given birth to a baby that lived only a few days after trying to induce an abortion. As well as her modelling career, she also operated as a ‘call girl’ or prostitute. Her clientele consisted of very high-ranking members of the British upper classes, and it was not long before John Profumo became one of her many lovers.

  Fall from grace

  According to Profumo, he ended the relationship only a few weeks after it had begun, but the short liaison was to have a devastating effect, not only on his own career, but that of the Conservative government. The following year, there was a shooting incident in London in which two men known to Keeler were involved. This led to an investigation of Keeler herself, and during this time it was learned that she had had a relationship with Profumo. It then transpired that among Keeler’s other lovers was the Senior Naval Attache to the Soviet embassy, a man named Yevgeny Ivanov, and it was this that triggered anxieties that national security might have been breached. Of course, it was highly unlikely that Keeler and her lovers had spent their time discussing the positioning of nuclear installations and suchlike while they were in bed, but the risk was thought to be enough to raise questions in the House of Commons, and eventually, Profumo was challenged about the liaison. Even so, Profumo’s personal involvement with Keeler was kept secret, so as to protect his privacy, and the story did not come out until 1963, when a member of the Labour Party, MP George Wigg, started to ask questions in the house about the case.

  Initially, Profumo admitted that he knew Ms Keeler, but denied that he had had any sexual involvement with her – or ‘impropriety’ as he termed it. However, by this time the press had got hold of the story and Harold Macmillan, the then prime minister, became aware that the rumours had to be stopped. Thus, he asked Profumo to explain himself to the House of Commons, hoping that this would help to put the matter to rest. Profumo stood before the house and swore his innocence, but then evidence emerged to show that he had been lying. On June 5 1963 he was forced to stand before the House again and admit what he had done.

  For the British politicians, it was the fact that he had lied to his colleagues, rather than the fact that he had been involved in the affair, that rankled. Profumo was
forced to quit his job, even though it was demonstrated that his liaison with Keeler had not, in fact, led to any breach of national security. Throughout his ordeal, his wife remained loyal to him, and neither of them ever referred to the matter in public again, even when Keeler published her autobiography and again when the 1989 film Scandal, about the affair, was released.

  Charity work

  After his fall from grace, Profumo ceased to pursue public life and began working as a volunteer at a local charity, Toynbee Hall, based in the run-down area of London’s East End. He did all sorts of menial tasks, including cleaning the toilets there, and slowly won the respect of the local people. His wife also worked for charity and the couple became known for their devotion to a number of charitable causes. During this time, they were lucky enough to be able to live on their inherited wealth.