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Britain's Epstein Scandal Emerges as More Damaging Than Profumo Affair
An establishment sex scandal involving powerful men, vulnerable young women, and a high-society fixer that erodes public confidence and ultimately threatens to topple a government... The chilling echoes of 1963 should send profound shivers through the current Labour administration, observes Anne McElvoy.
Wednesday 04 February 2026 14:58 GMT
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse continue to hold up childhood photographs from when they were first victimised, a haunting visual reminder of the scandal's human cost.
Political Careers Shattered in Scandal's Wake
Presently, Peter Mandelson finds himself isolated in a Wiltshire estate cottage on the property of a wealthy friend, his once-formidable political, diplomatic, and business careers lying in ruins. Those who previously sought his company and valued his acerbic wit and tactical Labour insights now shun him completely. Today, Keir Starmer informed the Commons that one of his most trusted allies had "betrayed our country" in a devastating parliamentary statement.
Amid the wreckage of a reputation initially destroyed by an unwise and convoluted entanglement with the prolific financier, child sex abuser, and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the revelations have expanded into allegations of deeply unseemly financial relationships. At the heart of this British nexus stand two figures central to politics and palace: Mandelson, and the former Prince Andrew, both brought low by their proximity to, and apparent reliance upon, Epstein (though both individuals have consistently denied any wrongdoing).
Establishment Reckoning Still Unfolding
We remain in the preliminary stages of understanding what this will ultimately mean for the government that ignored warnings and appointed Mandelson to the prestigious US ambassadorship; and for the royal family, grappling with an apostate brother who has inflicted enormous damage upon the family into which he was born a prince, now living in the uneasy limbo as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The political fallout – regarding public perception of elites and the theories, many justified and some conspiratorial, about the roots of misconduct and what lies behind them – has drawn direct comparison to another epoch-defining scandal: the 1963 Profumo affair. That scandal unveiled a world of seedy glamour in the relationships of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies with men at the Establishment's heart, including MP John Profumo, then secretary of state for war, and the aristocrat Lord Astor, then owner of Cliveden.
Historical Parallels and Distinctions
The Profumo affair resonates today through another scandal intertwining money, sex, and a privileged class. Yet the more significant similarity is that both episodes represent defining moments in Britain's social and political history. The merry-go-round of affairs among society figures interconnected by birth and privilege essentially marked the end of a post-war culture where privacy could be guaranteed and private sins remained secret. The public became the audience to the Profumo-Keeler spectacle, just as we are today to the Maxwell-Epstein drama.
Osteopathy forms an unexpected connection between these stories. Stephen Ward – who in 1961 introduced 19-year-old Keeler to Profumo – worked as a society osteopath. Reinaldo da Silva, Mandelson's husband, had his osteopathy training funded by Epstein. (No allegations of wrongdoing have been made against Reinaldo da Silva).
Denials and Dubious Characters
Mandelson maintains he was never sexually entangled with Epstein's circle and – despite appearing in the Epstein files, photographed in his underwear in Epstein's Paris flat alongside a woman in a white dressing gown – insists he remained wholly unaware of the oversexualised nature of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's circuit of young women permanently available for massages in skimpy bathrobes. The same miasma of dubious or outright mercenary characters surrounded the "Cliveden Set," where bohemian atmosphere thinly veiled sexual licentiousness and exploitation.
Keeler's other lover during her affair with a minister – a crowded field indeed – was Soviet naval attaché Evgeny Ivanov. Her friend Ward effectively established himself as a dating agency or, more crudely, a procurer of young women to introduce to powerful men seeking off-grid diversion from their regular lives.
Haunting Testimonies and Patterns
Reading Keeler's 1963 testimony feels particularly haunting now, revealing the ghastliness of that side of the "swinging" decade and her own delusion: "I never considered myself a prostitute or a call-girl," she stated. "Stephen said that you have to have the mentality of a prostitute, which I didn't have, and it was not quite so wrong just once or twice sleeping with a man and having some money from him; a man I knew and liked." Like many recruited for sex by Epstein and Maxwell, Keeler also introduced girls she met to Ward: "I introduced them because he liked girls," she told the court. "He used to tell me which girl he liked in a shop, and say: 'Go and get her.'"
Examining the memoirs of Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein victim who accused Prince Andrew of having sex with her at age seventeen (he continues to deny the allegations and of ever having met Giuffre), the same pattern emerges: the impressionable and vulnerable, used and then deployed to recruit others. Here, the line between "young woman" and "girls" remains, as always, as porous as cynical sexual predators required it to be.
Technological Evolution of Scandal
When the Keeler-Profumo affair concluded, a paper trail – letters Profumo had written to Keeler – led to more significant revelations. Today, information emerges in glugs of files and releases of BlackBerry messages: even the technology employed signals a different era entirely.
A mixture of brazen entitlement and haughty naivety among those who have slipped the bonds of normal social behaviour represents a common factor. Profumo lied to the Commons about his affair – and once again, the Epstein story revolves around numerous lies and half-truths told by those who consorted with him. Starmer informed the House of Commons that Mandelson "lied repeatedly" during the process that appointed him US ambassador. Politically, the Epstein scandal must now feel as treacherous for the government of the day, and for wider trust in those atop the tree in politics and finance (many US financiers are implicated and will face growing pressure to testify), as the Profumo affair proved.
Historical Precedents and Contemporary Realities
Harold Macmillan was so severely damaged by the scandal – alongside economic bad news, another parallel – that he departed Downing Street before 1963 ended. "Jack" Profumo, as known to family and loyal friends, maintained silence about the case for his remaining life but sought absolution through long devotion to charity work in east London. It would represent a monumental surprise if the main figures currently in the storm's eye were to vindicate themselves in such a selfless manner. In that specific regard, times have indeed changed profoundly.
Anne McElvoy serves as executive editor at Politico and co-hosts Politics at Sam and Anne's.
