If Fallon-style scandal drives our politics, Theresa May cannot survive | Martin Kettle

The former defence secretary’s exit sets a perilous benchmark for a shaky government that can’t afford to lose more ministers

In one of his many invaluable books on British politics, the great Sir David Butler – 93 last month and still following politics like a hawk – lists every significant ministerial resignation from British governments since the end of the Victorian era, along with a note of the reason for the minister’s departure. The roll call marks some of the great divisive events of the last century – entry into the first world war, the Irish rebellion, Munich, prescription charges, Suez, the Falklands invasion, Iraq.

It is not until 1958 that the first resignation due to a “private scandal” rather than a public issue is noted – the Conservative foreign office minister, charged with gross indecency after being caught in a gay sexual encounter, then illegal, in the bushes in St James’s Park. It is not, of course, that the first half of the 20th century was scandal-free – merely that the public knew nothing of such scandals, and so there were no demands that “something must be done”.

Related: Are the Tories reliving the John Major years? No. It’s much worse than that | Ian Birrell

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