Image Credit: Number 10, Flickr

What can we say about 2026 so far? The unending rain, the relentless political sex scandals, a disgusting lack of empathy for refugees, Reform accusing Gordon and Denton of voter fraud, World War Three? Oh, and my car failed its MOT. What a truly brilliant first quarter and at no point could I guess what was coming next. As I’ve been getting used to my new reality of walking everywhere, I have had a lot of time to think. With revelation after revelation unveiled in the Epstein files, this article has gone through many different iterations, but it has always begun with Keir Starmer. 

Good old reliable Prime Minister Keir Starmer. What is there left to say that somebody else hasn’t? I’m sure we all heard Sir Keir’s clap-back at leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch in PMQs a few months ago. His retort that the Conservatives had “more positions in 14 years than the Kama Sutra” had many giggling and created a short buzz across traditional and social media as people reacted to his witticism. In fact, I laughed too! But, after a few days, I was left with that oh so familiar funny feeling.

I’m sure many of us have felt it before; the uncertainty about whether something you have seen was right or appropriate. That actually, maybe, it wasn’t as funny as we first thought. The more I thought of the comment and sat with the feeling, the more the comment felt… odd. Here is a white man, the leader of our country, a knight no less, making a sexual joke to a black woman, in front of both the Commons and the country. Is this really how we should be expecting the leader of our country to behave? I am no stranger to the nature of a heated debate; I do not expect leaders of parties to go easy on each other simply because of their gender (in fact, it would be rather disappointing and sexist if they did), however relying on a cheap sex joke for a laugh to end an argument remains shortsighted and tasteless.

Now it must be mentioned that this comment happened before the staggered release of the Epstein Files, before the arrests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson. However, this does not excuse the Prime Minister’s comment into one of poor taste as British Politics is imbued with sexual misconduct and scandals. The first scandal that comes to mind is when former MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Neil Parish was caught watching pornographic material inside the House of Commons whilst Parliament was in session. Don’t worry though, he was trying to look at a tractor website the first time – it was only the second time where it was deliberate! Or what about how former Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not know how many children he has? Or how Matt Hancock appointed an old friend to be an aide, before promptly cheating on his wife with her during the Covid-19 lockdown? 

You may say to me: “Lucy, Keir Starmer just made a silly little joke. Is it that deep?” Yes, it is. 

Male entitlement is rampant within Parliament. These previous scandals make clear that ministers believe their behaviour is acceptable, and they are entitled to act in such a way. Take Neil Parish – firstly, anybody who “looks at tractors” instead of doing their job would be in trouble. Anybody watching pornography at work would be sacked without hesitation. Not only has he done this once, but twice? It signifies a culture of misogyny, entitlement, and professional disregard within the Commons. This is only compounded with the numerous examples of other political sexual scandals with fundamentally entitled men at their centre. 

And to speak to a non-sexual scandal for a moment –  does anyone else remember when Dominic Cummings drove from London to Durham and back again to “check if his eyesight was good enough to drive” on a day that just happened to be his wife’s birthday? Despite his role as Chief Advisor to Boris Johnson through the creation and enforcement of Covid-19 regulations, he felt entitled to make that trip. He, like many other male politicians, is different and the exception.

Then, of course, there are the Epstein Files. I have only hinted at them so far as formulating the words to discuss such a display of rape, child rape, child exploitation, and sex trafficking has proven to be incredibly difficult. The horror and the disgust have made it difficult to continue to watch, to look out for the news stories, to keep on top of what has been said by who this time. 

I remember the 2019 Newsnight interview with Andrew Mountbatten Windsor regarding Jeffrey Epstein. I revisited it whilst writing this piece, and  was struck by his sense of entitlement. Listening to him speak, the explanations that he feels are oh so reasonable (it wasn’t a birthday party, it was a straightforward shooting weekend!) are demonstrative of the complete disconnect between rich, powerful men and reality. An ordinary, misogynistic, and entitled man will expect his wife to do all of the cooking and the cleaning, think women incapable of manual tasks, and will likely refuse to admit that they have done anything wrong. A rich and powerful misogynistic, entitled man will become part of a prolific pedophilic ring. 

Peter Mandelson was reportedly a close friend of Epstein from 2002 to 2011, long after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. He faced a new wave of scrutiny after Epstein File releases in both 2025 and 2026 that exposed emails between Mandelson and Epstein, in which Mandelson suggests Epstein’s conviction was wrongful, telling Epstein he “thought the world” of him, amongst other reprehensible issues. Sir Keir came under pressure as well after this exposure, as he himself appointed Mandelson as an ambassador to the United States in 2024. Apparently, the newly published emails provided “materially different” information in regards to the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein.

I think this is the fundamental difference between the Prime Minister’s Kama Sutra comment being tasteless or problematic; his power. He has the power to bring people into and out of influence, including those who were close friends to convicted child sex traffickers. In the context of sex scandals and male entitlement, sex jokes aren’t and can never be funny. His inherent power, and the power that all MPs hold – not just, but especially, the Etonians and the Oxbridge graduates — mean that these are no longer just jokes, but examples of the beliefs and behaviours of the leaders of our country. So yes, a little joke by Sir Keir really is that deep, and cannot be taken in isolation. In the context of British politics and sex scandals, it is a reminder of the disgusting, misogynistic attitudes maintained by the leaders of our country.