Notes on a scandal

As the "party-gate" controversy rocks Boris Johnson's premiership, Jack Blanchard takes a look at the history and the nature of political scandals.

Former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell, who was forced to resign over the so-called "Plebgate" affair in 2012, reveals what it's like to be at the centre of a bruising political controversy, and how he got his life back on track afterwards. Top political journalists Pippa Crerar and Christopher Hope — who helped break the Dominic Cummings and MPs' expenses scandals respectively — explain what it's like to uncover a major political story, and their disbelief at learning how senior political figures are sometimes prepared to act. And the author and ex-Washington Post journalist Michael Dobbs analyzes the greatest political scandal of them all — Watergate — with the help of thousands of hours of newly-released audio tapes of President Richard M. Nixon.

Andrew Mitchell's memoir "Beyond a Fringe: Tales from a Reformed Establishment Lackey," and Michael Dobbs' new book "King Richard — Nixon and Watergate: An American Tragedy," are both available now.

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