Can Political Scandals be Good?

In whichever society individuals reside in or visit, the laws of the land must be obeyed. Under authoritarian regimes, individuals have very little say over such laws.
 
In democratic societies, the rule of law is the norm. Citizens indirectly participate in lawmaking. Members of parliament are directly responsible, hence they are lawmakers. As such, it is morally inconceivable for them to break that law. When such an incident occurs, it naturally attracts major public attention. This was witnessed last week in Britain when Denis MacShane, an ex-MP who also used to be a minister, admitted in court submitting false invoices on his parliamentary expenses.
 
Mr. MacShane was a Labour MP from 1994 until 2012 and the minister for Europe during 2004-5. He was accused of submitting false invoices in terms of expenses, which he denied. The police investigation into the matter was initially restricted due to parliamentary privilege. Correspondence that MPs have with the government need not be made public; therefore, letters implicating financial irregularities by MacShane were not shared with the police investigation. Parliament itself investigated the matter and suspended him as an MP, immediately after which he resigned last November. After new evidence, the police reopened the case and on Monday MacShane appeared in court, confessing to his crimes.
 
This is another episode in the long-running saga of British political scandals. No country is unblemished with regard to elected politicians' misdemeanors, though the British do have a rich pedigree in this matter. This can be interpreted in two ways. Either that there is a higher than average level of corruption and skullduggery in British politics, or that those who break the law, whether they are lawmakers or not, sooner or later are brought to justice. Looking at Britain over the last half century, it is the latter viewpoint that holds more credibility.
 
1960s and 1970s
It was 50 years ago when the greatest political scandal that Britain has witnessed erupted: the Profumo affair. John Profumo was an aspiring star in the Conservative Party, which had been in office since 1951. He first became an MP in 1940, quickly rising through the ranks to become war minister in 1960. The next year he met and started an affair with a beautiful young lady; Christine Keeler. He was certainly not the first minister to have a secret romantic liaison, nor was he the last. It so happened that Miss Keeler was also romantically involved with the Soviet senior naval attaché in London. When the opposition Labour Party heard of Profumo's affair, they asked in the House of Commons to confirm or deny the relationship. He told parliament that he was not having an affair with Keeler. Days later, with newspapers publishing greater details concerning Keeler's relationships, it became clear that an affair had taken place and Profumo had no choice but to resign as he had lied to the House of Commons.
 
In the 1960s, British society was undergoing profound social change and increasing sexual liberation, with a clear line being drawn between private and personal lives. Despite the major changes occurring, one aspect that had not changed was in an MPs unwavering commitment to be truthful in Parliament. The very next year, after 13 years in government, the Conservative Party lost the general election. Profumo was vilified by the press and his name for many decades was associated with lies and deceit. Yet, he worked tirelessly for more than four decades in trying to improve the lot of the poor in London's East End, and gained respect for his efforts.
 
A second political disgrace that shook British politics took place in the 1970s with the Stonehouse scandal. Labour MP John Stonehouse became a minister in the late 1960s and was accused of spying for the Czechoslovakians. He was also involved in several business ventures which were failing very badly, so he decided to fake his own death in America in 1974 and moved to Australia with his mistress -- a former secretary -- under a false name. He was caught and brought to trial in Britain, where in 1976 he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. In 1980, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was informed that Stonehouse had in fact been spying on behalf of Czechoslovakia since the 1960s but decided not to opt for prosecution due to a lack of evidence to be presented at a public trial. The theatrical attempt to convince everyone of his suicide led to the public questioning the character and motives of MPs for years to come.
 
After years of being accused by a male model of having an affair together in the early 1960s, the leader of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe, resigned in 1976. The accusations had gone beyond homosexuality to plotting the murder of the male model. The scandal hurt the Liberal Party very much in electoral terms as Thorpe prepared for trial a week after the general election of 1979, in which he was cleared of all charges.
 
1980s and 1990s
The scandal that resonated throughout the 1980s concerned Prime Minister Thatcher's favorite minister, Cecil Parkinson, having an affair and a love-child with his personal secretary. Parkinson, who had recently engineered the re-election of Thatcher as party chairman, resigned from the cabinet. Both he and the Conservative Party faced a negative public reaction due to these developments. Nevertheless, he was able to return to the cabinet after the next general election four years later.
 
Mrs. Thatcher's successor John Major also suffered from his ministers' inappropriate behavior. Pursuing his "back to basics" policy of emphasizing traditional and moral values with high importance attached to the family, several of his ministers were publicly identified as a having had affairs including David Mellor, the high-profile culture minister, and Tim Yeo, who fathered an extra-marital lovechild. Moreover, a couple of MPs had disgracefully accepted cash to ask specific questions in the House of Commons. It also emerged after John Major lost the 1997 election that he himself had carried on an affair with fellow Conservative MP Edwina Currie for four years. The scandals related to his ministers in preaching family values, yet engaging in extramarital affairs were also factors that led to the Labour Party winning the general election of 1997.
 
The Blair decade in power was also notable for the scandals that it nested. Early on, much was focused on the spectacular fall from grace of Peter Mandelson, who, similar to Parkinson for the Conservatives, was personally identified with the election strategy that brought victory to the Labour Party after being in opposition for 17 years. He had borrowed a substantial amount at very favorable rates from a millionaire fellow Labour MP to buy a house. When in government his ministry was responsible for investigating the business dealings of the person he borrowed from. Mandelson had not told Tony Blair or anyone else of this relationship and despite stating that he had deliberately not taken part in any decisions relating to investigations, when such developments became known to the public, it caused an outrage and Mandelson had to resign.
 
After spending 10 months on the backbenches, Blair bought his close confidant back into cabinet as minister for Northern Ireland. Yet, after two years holding that office, Mandelson was accused of illegally using his position to influence the passport applications of a billionaire Indian businessman. The accusations centered on helping the wealthy applicant to acquire a British passport with Mandelson having approached the Home Office on behalf of this man, who incidentally was sponsoring a major project which was very much encouraged by the government. This incident led to his second resignation from the cabinet in 2001.
 
2000s-2010s
There were no similar political scandals in Gordon Brown's tenure as prime minister, though financial irregularities reached a peak. What became known as the "expenses scandal" erupted whereby MPs had submitted exaggerated sums for goods and services they had paid for. Lawmakers were short-changing taxpayers with fraudulent claims for expenses. Several MPs decided not to contest the next election as they had provided false financial information and drew more funds than they had actually spent. Not surprisingly, the public outrage was understandable given that their representatives were lying to the government over their spending, asking for much more than what they were eligible for. This led to widespread criticism from all political viewpoints, tarring all political parties with the same brush. At the end of investigations several MPs were tried and convicted and sentenced to imprisonment and fines.
 
The present coalition government that took over in 2010 has also suffered from political scandals. The most high-profile concerned Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, who 10 years earlier had been caught speeding, which would have culminated in him losing his driving license. He had claimed that rather than himself, it was his wife who was behind the wheel at the time. During this period, he was also having an affair and after he divorced his wife, she stated that her ex-husband had not told the truth about the speeding incident. Police re-investigated the matter and found that Huhne, who had become a cabinet minister, had not told the truth. Both he and his ex-wife were jailed earlier this year for eight months.
 
Political trust
Given the fact that voter turnout in elections is falling in the UK as well as in other established democracies, one can put forward the argument that there is a correlation between political scandals and levels of political trust. Whereas in the 1964 UK general election 77 percent of the electorate voted, this had declined to just over 59 percent by 2001. Certainly, one cannot lay all the blame on the illegal and immoral activities of individual MPs discouraging the electorate to participate in elections. Nevertheless, when the integrity of MPs is questioned, then it is an uphill task to ensure greater political participation at election times.
 
The latest scandal involves an individual who is no longer a lawmaker, although the crimes he committed took place when he was a representative of the electorate. What needs to be borne in mind is that MacShane has been put on trial, which has demonstrated to the public at large that everybody is equal under the law. It does not matter whether one is a lawmaker or not, no one can evade justice. Sooner or later, in this instance later, the long arm of the law has been able to feel the collar of the culprit.
 
Politically, such actions are damaging in the short run in terms of the public's perception of the honesty and integrity of representatives. That much is undeniable. It is also a fact that the action of bringing lawmakers to justice for their misdemeanors is also an important factor that strengthens belief in the legal system.
 
In a basket of apples there are bound to be one or two rotten apples. If the rotten ones are removed, then the rest will not be affected. If the rotten apples are left alone to fester and enjoy privileges not given to anyone else, then it becomes likely that fellow MPs will see that such actions are considered acceptable and be tempted to choose a similar path.
 
No democratic society would wish for their elected representatives to lie under oath and engage in activities that they demand their electorate abstain from. Though when this does happen, it can actually strengthen democracy as it demonstrates that whoever breaks the law is liable. That after all is the cardinal principle that underlies the concept of the rule of law: justice for one and all. No society is perfect, therefore no democracy is perfect. Without a fair system of justice, democracy cannot exist, let alone flourish. Political scandals, therefore, can serve a higher purpose.