Great Parliamentary Scandals: Four Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo

Matthew Parris, Lord David Prosser, Andrew Pierce

Robson Books, 1995 - Political Science - 346 pages

In this highly revealing, entertaining and salutary expedition into the moral swamps of British politics, award-winning columnist and broadcaster Matthew Parris presents the low side of high office.
From the Victorian Prime Minister who brought prostitutes into Downing Street to the MP caught red-checked in the House of Commons shower; from two leaders groped by one backbencher to shady share dealings in the newly invented wireless; from the sale of peerages for cash to love-sick House of Commons secretaries; from rent boys to Soviet spies; and from pistols at dawn on Putney Heath to three-in-a-bed romps with serving wenches all is revealed here.
Researching this book, Parris has been able to talk to many of those living politicians and former politicians who appear here, and while this all-too-readable history includes the scandals you would expect - starting with Elizabeth I's Francis Bacon, who went on to become the most corrupt Lord Chancellor ever, and ending with the scandal-rocked 1990s - there are also some surprising and little-known ones: the MPs who (until now) got away.

Contents

• FRANCIS BACON 1621: 1
• SIR JOHN TREVOR 1694: 16
• BENJAMIN DISRAELI 1826: 31

Bibliographic information

• Title: Great Parliamentary Scandals: Four Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo
• Authors: Matthew Parris, Lord David Prosser, Andrew Pierce
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Robson Books, 1995
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jun 12, 2008
• ISBN: 0860519570, 9780860519577
• Length: 346 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Great Britain; Humor / General; Political Science / American Government / Legislative Branch; Political Science / General