John Terry and politics<br />

John Terry’s sacking as England captain tells us something interesting about what is considered a sackable offence in today’s world and what is not. When the story was just about Terry allegedly cuckolding a team mate his position as captain seemed safe. As Danny Finkelstein argued on the Today Programme, modern society is reluctant to have people lose their jobs because of sexual indiscretions—politicians don’t have to resign as soon as they are caught having affairs these days.

But as soon as there started to be stories alleging financial impropriety—the claim that an associate of his was hawking out the Wembley box that Terry was entitled to through his position as England captain–then his position became far more vulnerable. Again, the same standard applies in politics—any financial element moves a sexual scandal from being embarrassing to being a resigning issue.