Far bigger betrayal than Profumo

WELL IT certainly puts Partygate into perspective, doesn’t it? A few illicit glasses of sauvignon; a slice or two of forbidden birthday cake... Boris Johnson’s lockdown shenanagins at No.10 are almost laughably trivial set against Mandelson’s monstrous mendacity.

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The 'Prince of Darkness' Peter Mandelson was too close to Jeffrey Epstein

I mention Profumo: he was practically a saint compared to Mandelson. John Profumo was of course the Secretary of State for War in 1963. He had an affair with the then 19-year-old Christine Keeler, who was simultaneously involved with a Soviet naval attache.

The threat to national security was always pretty thin - not much more than theoretical, in fact - but Profumo stupidly lied to Parliament about the affair, got found out, resigned, and spent the rest of his life atoning for his mistake, working tirelessly for charity. Not exactly in the same league as our Mandy, eh?