Britain's forgotten scandal offers a sobering lesson to today's political elite – Jack Walters

Jack Walters
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:20:36 +0000
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Westminster is currently gripped by feverish speculation about who knew what ahead of Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's man in Washington.

What might seem like an aberration from respectable governance, however, is actually - and somewhat depressingly - history repeating itself.

From John Profumo's dalliances with the unassuming showgirl Christine Keeler to Boris Johnson's lockdown-breaking parties in No10, British politics has been awash with scandal throughout its long and tumultuous history.

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to resign, with Labour MP Jonathan Brash setting out his stall for the Prime Minister to step down live on GB News.

However, there's one scandal that perhaps demonstrates just how much politics has changed in the last century.

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David Lloyd George, who was the then-Chancellor and would later become the only Prime Minister whose mother tongue wasn't English, emerged from the embers of a scandal that, by today's standards, would likely end even the most illustrious parliamentary careers.

Lloyd George had agreed to buy a thousand shares in the American subsidiary of the wireless system Marconi Company at the cost of £2 a pop – around £300 today.

It was alleged that Lloyd George had used insider knowledge to purchase the shares after Marconi's UK firm received a lucrative Government contract.

There had been rumours that Lloyd George had done this before, with the ex-Board of Trade chief profiting from the Port of London's creation.

However, other ministers also invested in Marconi's American subsidiary, including Attorney General Rufus Isaacs.

The pair had been tipped off by Isaacs's brother, Godfrey, who was managing director at Marconi, and even the Liberal Party itself profited directly from the investment.

After Marconi's share prices skyrocketed, and on the back of allegations of antisemitic reporting by The New Witness, a Select Committee was convened to investigate the scandal.

While MPs interrogated Lloyd George, Murray and Isaacs, accusations of sleaze rocked the already downtrodden Liberal Party with two crunching by-election defeats.

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Then, in June 1913, the Liberal-heavy Select Committee probe ultimately absolved Lloyd George, Isaacs and Samuel of any wrongdoing in a major parliamentary cover-up.

Despite being cleared by Commons colleagues, Lloyd George's legal defence failed to settle the moral and political questions the scandal posed.

Historians remain divided on the impact thereafter. For ex-Labour deputy leader Roy Hattersley, the scandal preoccupied Parliament and the press for a mere 14 months.

Lloyd George would eventually become Prime Minister and the Welsh Wizard is still revered for his wartime leadership.

However, Ian Christopher Fletcher warned that it helped deepen public disillusionment ahead of the conflict.

The erosion of public trust, which even The Daily Mail's then-proprietor Lord Northcliffe appeared to somewhat dismiss in 1913, is now inescapable today.

News is available at our very fingertips, whenever and wherever.

While information on the Marconi Select Committee probe remains difficult to come by even today, millions will watch or catch a glimpse of Sir Olly Robbins, Cat Little and Morgan McSweeney being hauled in front of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

The Marconi saga should also serve as a reminder to today's political elite that judgement is far more important than exoneration.

Lloyd George was forever linked to corruption, albeit not quite to the same level he would have been if he were operating in Westminster now.

The defence put forward by Lloyd George at the time, which was that he acted "mistakenly but innocently", is echoed in Sir Keir's earlier this week.

The saga, which admittedly looks like a precursor to Lloyd George's eventual downfall over the 1922 Honours Scandal, irked Lloyd George into a rant at the National Liberal Club even after he was absolved of any wrongdoing.

Sir Keir might not prove as lucky as Lloyd George, but Prime Ministers just cannot afford to show the same amount of poor judgement nowadays.