In 1973, Lambton's liaisons with prostitutes were revealed in the Sunday tabloid The News of the World . The husband of one of the prostitutes, Norma Levy, had secretly taken photographs of Lambton in bed with Ms. Levy, and had attempted to sell the photographs to Fleet Street tabloids.^[2][3] As well, a police search of Lambton's home found a small amount of cannabis. On 22 May, Lambton resigned from both his office and Parliament, which caused a by-election for his seat which was won by Alan Beith for the Liberal Party. Shortly after, the name Jellicoe emerged in connection to a rendezvous for one of Norma's girls at a Somers Town mansion block which had been named Jellicoe House, after the earl's kinsman Basil Jellicoe (1899-1935), the housing reformer and priest from Magdalen College (Oxford). There was a confusion and Lord Jellicoe, the Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords, admitted 'casual affairs' with prostitutes from a Mayfair escort agancy, but denied knowing Norma Levy.^[2]

A security inquiry on the prostitution scandal concluded that there had been "nothing in (Lambton's) conduct to suggest that the risk of indiscretions on these occasions was other than negligible." Lambton stated that he had never taken his red state boxes of government documents with him when he visited Ms. Levy. The security inquiry was held due to fears that the prostitution scandal may have involved an actual or potential breach of national security (as occurred in the Profumo scandal in the 1960s).

When MI5 officer Charles Elwell interviewed Lambton, Lambton first claimed that the pressure of his job as a minister was what drove him to procure the prostitutes. Later, Lambton stated that his sense of "...the futility of the job" and lack of demanding tasks as a junior minister was one of the reasons he went to the prostitutes. Finally, Lambton claimed that his judgement was faulty when he went to the prostitutes due to his obsession with a battle over the use of an aristocratic title that had been used by his father; Lambton claimed that he sought to soothe this obsession by engaging in frantic activities such as gardening and debauchery.^[2] After Lambton retired, he told television host Robin Day that he had purchased the services of prostitutes because "people sometimes like variety. It's as simple as that".

[

Later years

Following the scandal, Lambton retired, separated from his wife and bought Villa Cetinale^[4] a 17th century villa in Tuscany, where he lived with Claire Ward, nee Baring, daughter of the cricketer Giles Baring.^{[5] [6][7]} He never divorced his wife Bindy who died in 2003. Despite renouncing his titles, he continued to use his former courtesy title "Viscount Lambton", although under British law this had no legal status. Lambton died in his Italian home on 30 December 2006.^[8]

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References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Robert Thorp	Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed 1951–1973	Succeeded by Alan Beith
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Lambton	Earl of Durham 4 February 1970–23 February 1970 (disclaimed)	Succeeded by Edward Lambton

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External links

• Obituary in The Daily Telegraph, January 2, 2007
• Obituary in The Guardian, by Edward Pearce
• Obituary in The Independent, by John Barnes, January 2, 2007
• Obituary in The Times, January 2, 2007
• Villa Cetinale

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