Bournemouth III

John Cordle was Tory MP for Bournemouth East and Christchurch/Bournemouth East (1959-77). He was brought down by the Poulson scandal. John Poulson was a Leeds-based architectural designer who cultivated contacts in government, including Herbert Butcher (Holland with Boston, 1937-66), one of the last National Liberal MPs, and Albert Roberts, Labour MP for Normanton (1951-83). Roberts was one of the last Labour MPs to support the death penalty.

Poulson went bankrupt in 1972 and was jailed in 1974 but the MPs escaped trial due to a legal loophole. Cordle was forced to resign. He had been the owner of the Church of England newspaper and had said it should argue for “high standards in public life”.