Worst ‘pants down’ political intercourse scandals – MP discovered lifeless in suspenders to name women
Westminster has often been rocked by sex scandals, with our political history littered with seemingly well-respected figures getting caught with their “pants down”.
The most recent example of this was Matt Hancock getting caught on CCTV snogging his aide Gina Coladangelo during the pandemic. The former Health Secretary was left red-faced after failing to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ rules his very own department had laid out for the rest of the country.
But there have been some far more explicit, and at times far more dark, examples of politicians literally getting their knickers in a twist.
Robert Boothby
Robert “Bob” Boothby was a member of the Conservative party and a regular BBC commentator on public affairs. He joined parliament in 1924, during an era when politicians’ private lives and indiscretions, no matter how well known within Westminster, rarely made the news.
Over his three-decade-long parliamentary career, Boothby had a lengthy affair with Dorothy Macmillan, wife of his Conservative colleague Harold Macmillan, starting in the 1930s and continuing even after Macmillan became Prime Minister in 1956.
Boothby also allegedly had a homosexual relationship with infamous East End gangster Ronnie Kray, who, along with his identical twin Reggie, ruled London’s underworld for two decades.
Stephen Milligan
The Westminster establishment was rocked to its foundations after Milligan, a respected figure in John Major’s party, was discovered dead at his residence in Chiswick, west London, on February 7, 1995.
Found on the kitchen table, the Conservative MP was discovered virtually unclothed, wearing nothing but a pair of women’s stockings and suspenders. With a black bin liner over his head and an orange segment in his mouth, Milligan, 45, had apparently been strangled with a length of electrical flex wrapped around his neck.
Detectives examining his death concluded that the MP for Eastleigh had accidentally killed himself during a solitary sexual act. A theory that he suffered a fatal mishap while asphyxiating himself for sexual gratification was one of the primary lines of investigation followed by police.
The coroner subsequently concurred, determining his death as misadventure after a post-mortem examination revealed he had “suffocated himself accidentally”. The ruling sent shockwaves through his devastated friends and family.
Anthony Lambton
Anthony Lambton inherited the Earldom of Durham following his father’s death in 1970 but relinquished the title to remain MP for Berwick.
He was one of two ministers forced to resign from Ted Heath’s government due to scandals involving call girls, with the other being Lord Jellicoe, the Leader of the House of Lords.
Lambton’s downfall came after he was secretly photographed smoking cannabis in bed with two prostitutes, and the images were leaked to a national newspaper.
A subsequent investigation by the security services led to him being denied access to classified material due to concerns he could be blackmailed.
He resigned and relocated to Italy, where he purchased Villa Cetinale, a 400 year old estate.
Peter Mandelson
Mandelson was granted the US ambassador position in December 2024 despite concerns raised during the screening procedure, including examination of his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. While he assumed the role in February 2025, he was removed seven months later after fresh details surfaced regarding his connections to Epstein. He has consistently and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The most recent document release follows Keir Starmer yielding to pressure from MPs calling for increased openness surrounding Mandelson’s nomination. The Prime Minister has apologised to Epstein’s victims and accused the former Labour heavyweight with deceiving him, while the matter has provoked fury amongst backbench MPs and prompted questions about Starmer’s judgement.
In the most recent batch of emails disclosed by the US justice department, concerns were highlighted regarding whether Mandelson had allegedly shared market-sensitive information with Epstein while occupying his role in Gordon Brown’s government as trade secretary – allegations he has strongly denied.
In February, he was detained on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released the same day, with police confirming he remains under investigation. In a statement following his dismissal as Ambassador to the US last year, Lord Mandelson said: “I was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards.”
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