These days our sex scandals seem like another symbol of Britain’s national decline. They are diminished, petty and tawdry, certainly compared to the grand affair that took its name from its main actor: John Profumo.

Sixty years ago today, on 5 June 1963, Profumo rose in the House of Commons to admit that he had lied to his wife, his cabinet colleagues, and the nation, about an affair with a 19-year-old model, and was therefore resigning and retreating into obscurity.