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The passing of the former model at the centre of the Profumo affair has prompted many elderly Britons to pine for a time when Tory ministers got sacked for doing something enviable, like sleeping with sexy women who were also having an affair with Russian diplomats.
Many commentators lamented that all recent scandals were not something worthy of a Le Carre thriller, but usually so pathetic that they would make a suitable plot device for an Alan Partridge Christmas special.
Simon Williams, political editor of the Times, explained that the Profumo affair had an edginess to it that today’s political generation was incapable of recreating.
He explained, “Imagine London in the swinging sixties and a gorgeous model at the centre of a complex web of lust and deceit featuring an English aristocrat and a Soviet naval attache.
“Add a fearless journalist and a ruthless political operator and you’ve got a great novel.
“Now, instead of that, picture Damien Green having a wank hunched over his laptop. Not quite the same, isn’t it?
“Where’s the style in Mark Garnier asking his middle-aged secretary to buy him sex toys because he’s too scared to do it himself? How can any scandal be erotically charged if they involve Boris Johnson?
“People were scandalised by John Profumo, but most men were envious too. Everyone wanted to be a powerful man who gets ensnared by a young promiscuous beauty. No one – and I mean no one – wants to be the guy that gets drunk and tries to feel up Julia Hartley-Brewer.”
