Much has been made in the media about the affair and Major's "Back to Basics" campaign with all the "scandals" that followed it <1>.
The basic difference between Major/Currie affair and all the others that haunted the Late Thatcher/Major era was that J & E had the sense to be discreet - unusual in a politician at best and rarer than hen's teeth in a Tory of that period.

Walrus