Boris Johnson resigned today as Prime Minister of the UK after weeks of turmoil at the end of a controversial reign in 10 Downing Street which lasted less than three years.
His handling of this latest scandal relating to allegations made about Chris Pincher, a colleague he promoted, seems to have been the last straw for his party.
Over 50 government resignations, including Cabinet ministers, left the former Mayor of London with nowhere to go but the steps outside his famous residence to resign himself.
Read More: Boris Johnson announces his resignation as Prime Minister
It got us thinking about our own political scandals here in Ireland since the turn of the century, including the Mahon Tribunal and Golfgate.
Bertie Ahern 2008/2012
Bertie Ahern resigned as Taoiseach in 2008 following revelations made in the course of the Mahon Tribunal, which found that he had inappropriately received money from developer Owen O’Callaghan while serving as Minster for Finance in the 1990s.
The testimony he gave as part of the tribunal was found to be untrue.
Ahern resigned from Fianna Fáil in 2012 after the publication of the tribunal report, which said that he did not truthfully account for payments made to accounts connected to him.
While the final report did not accuse Ahern of corruption, it stated that “much of the explanations provided by Ahern, as to the source of the substantial funds available to him, were deemed by the Tribunal to be 'untrue.'"
"I am hurt and disappointed by the findings of the Mahon Tribunal," he said. "At the outset, I want to make it clear I have done nothing wrong or dishonest. I believe a grave injustice has been done to me,” wrote Ahern in The Sunday Independent.
John O’Donoghue 2009
John O’Donoghue announced his resignation from the position of Ceann Comhairle in 2009 following allegations over expenses he claimed while in the role and during his time as a government minister.
His lavish spending allegedly earned him the nickname ‘Johnny Cash.’ He once spent €472 on a three-minute limo trip between terminals at Heathrow Airport.
O’Donoghue’s alleged expenses while Ceann Comhairle included travel bills of €45,000, car and limousine hire bills of €13,000 and just under €5,000 in airport VIP lounge fees.
He sought to re-enter politics when running for a seat in South Kerry in 2011 but failed to win.
Willie O’Dea 2010
The then Minister for Defence resigned over comments he made that featured in a court case involving Sinn Féin’s Maurice Quinlivan, who was an election candidate at the time.
The remarks related to an alleged connection between a brothel and Quinlivan. The Taoiseach at the time, Enda Kenny, accused O’Dea of perjury because he had denied making the comments in a sworn affidavit.
O’Dea later accepted that he had made comments, which appeared in a local newspaper, but denied making private comments about the case.
O’Dea denied committing perjury, saying he had made a mistake. Mr O'Dea said, “It was just general chit chat,” “I passed it on - I shouldn't have passed it on.”
“I have made a bad mistake, I've paid heavily for it, I am sorry, I am contrite, I've apologised, I apologised again. I don't know what else I can do.”
“I say things that I don't really mean sometimes in the heat of battle.”
Frances Fitzgerald 2017
Frances Fitzgerald, who was Tánaiste and Minister for Business at the time, resigned in 2017 due to the controversy surrounding emails detailing the legal strategy used against Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
McCabe was subjected to a smear campaign and harassment from members of the Gardaí.
Fitzgerald had said she didn’t remember being informed about the strategy used to discredit McCabe in 2015 when she was Minster for Justice. However, she resigned over the mishandling of emails which did in fact discuss details related to the scandal.
Fitzgerald was later proven to have acted appropriately by the Disclosures Tribunal in 2018, which was highly critical of the actions of the then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan and press officer Superintendent David Taylor.
Fitzgerald’s resignation averted a snap election that was threating to collapse the government.
Phil Hogan 2020
Phil Hogan, who was EU Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, was forced to resign after it emerged that he had attended a dinner event at a hotel in the west of Ireland while Covid-19 restrictions on large gatherings were in place.
The scandal became known as ‘Golfgate’ and created significant blowback from the public.
It was revealed that Hogan had crossed county lines when doing so was prohibited during lockdown. Hogan confirmed he had attended the event but did not apologise.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin demanded a “far more fulsome” apology and public anger mounted due to Hogan’s lack of contrition. Hogan refused and the backlash eventually made his position untenable.
Remaining defiant even after he resigned, Hogan stated, "I broke no law when I went to Ireland. I broke no regulations," but admitted "I could have adhered better to guidelines."
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