I’ve walked the halls of the Legislative Office Building in Albany, New York and though never meeting Governor Spitzer, there was never a shortage of suggestion, allegation and rumour about many of the elected representatives. Behaviour of such questionable standards lead to a ban on interns attending events where alcohol was served and a strict monitoring of event and accommodation organisation. We look of course to America for some of the glossier examples of sex scandal as well of course getting in some debauched European behaviour.

6. Despite being spotted naked on a beach with a rumoured lover, German EU Comissioner Günter Verheugen still initially denied any inappropriate relationship with one of this staff. Promoting the lady in question to his chief of staff there were allegations he misled press and more damagingly the President of the Commision Manuel Baroso. Promotion of staff also reared its head last year when it emerged Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, appointed a girlfriend to a high ranking position in the Bank,meaning she earned more money than Condoleeza Rice, leading to protests from staff before Wolowitz ultimately resigned.

5. Scandal begins at home, the estranged wife of a Supreme Court judge fills out the column inches of a Sunday broadsheet, dropping suggestions she is seeing a high profile politician before revealing the other party to the affair being the leader of the State for a while and then selling her story to a rival newspaper. Subsequently Terry Keane regretted her tell all, however there is no getting away from the extra dimension added by the 27 year extra martial affair to the Haughey legacy.

4. In the same sense that Keane and Haughey probably operated their affair known to a certain set of people, so too Oscar Wilde’s sexuality was a badly kept secret. Married with children, Wilde simultaneously had relationships with a number of men. Upsetting the 9th Marquess of Queensbury, who believed Wilde had corrupted his son through homosexuality, events lead to a libel case which raked through Wilde’s personal life and a subsequent arrest for gross indecency. A 2 year prison sentence for Wilde saw his health deteriorate and spend his final years in isolation, writing under a pseudonym.

(See also: Jim McGrath, US Governor/ US Senator Larry Craig)

3. Staying in the UK, the Profumo affair mixed sex and political intrigue. The then Secretary of State for War (what an great title!) began a brief relationship with a show girl, who also happened to seeing a Russian diplomat based in the Soviet Embassy in London. There being a clear risk to national security in the midst of the Cold War, Profumo lied when questioned on the nature of the affair in the House of Commons. Later in 1963 Profumo confessed to the nature of the relationship, resigned with Prime Minister Harold McMillan resigning shortly after, the suggestion being that his ill-health at the time was worsened by the scandal.

2. The walls of royal houses across Europe and further afield must have blushed a plenty in their time. Rumours of British royalty being involved in the Jack the Ripper murders right up to modern day accusations Prince Andrews marriage is a cover for his sexuality, the character who caught my attention is Prince Victor Emmanuel, the son of the last crown prince of Italy, he enjoys the title Prince of Naples but little else since the country became a Republic in the 1940s. Anti - semetic and tried for murder, he has most recently been arrested on charges of running a prostitution ring from a Swiss based casino - he is one of a number of people who were arrested including his cousin, King Simeon II, former monarch in Bulgaria. Reading

1. A seeming rite of passage for interns is some form of sexual encounter in a seat of power. Monika Lewinsky having her way with the leader of the free world in the Oval office is surely the standard to which all interns now aspire. That Clinton carried on affairs of the state during these sexual encounters is something you get to say you admire when writing anonymously on a blog. This Washington Post time line is an excellent mapping of the events and a reflection of the reams of paper and coverage given to the truth behind the affair and the events of Clintons impeachment. This scandal still shadows events in modern American politics today. There is no topping the antics of Thomas Jefferson in my view - Jefferson had a 20-year sexual relationship with a slave called Sally Hemmings who was thirty years his junior. She bore him six children who were also kept as slaves. Jefferson also had an affair with Elizabeth Walker while her husband, General John Walker, was away fighting in one of the Indian Wars.

(See also: Newt Gingrich, admitting to having an extra marital affair while leading the impeachment proceedings against Clinton)

Link: Countdown of the less than wholesome activities of previous US Presidents.