This is only the beginning of the political changes which will happen because of the Westminster sex scandal

If Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Sir Vince Cable and the other leaders want to show just how serious they are they should, in due course and with due process, require some of their MPs to stand down immediately from the Commons. That means by-elections and perhaps even a changed strategy on Brexit

The resignation of Sir Michael Fallon – which was either forced or voluntary depending on which account to believe – would not have happened in past times (PA)

If even a modest proportion of the rumours, allegations and gossip swirling around the internet turns out to be even partly correct, this reshuffle is unlikely to be the last the Prime Minister will undertake by the time she settles down for her Christmas lunch. She may well reflect on what a year it has been for her party and her increasingly lonely premiership.

The resignation of Sir Michael Fallon – which was either forced or voluntary depending on which account to believe – would not have happened in past times. In that, Sir Michael was incontrovertibly correct. A decade or two ago his behaviour would not have been judged so harshly, but that doesn’t change the fact that unwanted sexual advances are always inappropriate and often damaging to the people who have been subjected to that harassment. Times change, and in this case for the better.

The Harvey Weinstein “moment” seems to have become a spark to ignite a revolution in attitudes, the consequences dizzying but epochal, though long in the making. If this is what a feminist revolution looks like, then it is certainly overdue and much to be welcomed. The departures and arrivals of some slightly grey ministers in the British Government will go down in history as one of the least important consequences.

Still, Esther McVey, the new Government Deputy Chief Whip, could hardly be called “grey”, and her unspoken but perfectly apparent remit is to break the public schoolboy ethos and attitudes that obviously still pervade the Conservative Party in Parliament. Her background is far away from many of her colleagues on the Commons benches and her outlook and attitude modernising and sensible. She will not, in other words, take any nonsense from misbehaving Tory members. The only pity is that Theresa May didn’t take the opportunity for a truly bold move and promote Ms McVey to be Chief Whip straight away. No doubt her time will come.

Other ministers look increasingly vulnerable, and they know who they are. They are, we may be confident, not confined to the spreadsheet presently doing the rounds on social media (which knows no self-censoring or self-regulatory ordinance on the grounds of privacy or decency or even truthfulness).

All the extramarital affairs, relationships between single consenting adults, gropings, propositions, impregnations, banter, “high jinks”, assaults, harassment, “kinks” and sexual encounters of virtually every type will be consumed by the media in an orgy of indulgence, often with little distinction being made. Those on the charge sheets must face either the “old” morality (where gay sex, an unusual sexual preference or an extramarital affair are – wrongly – regarded as “fair game”) and the “new” morality (where powerful men’s manipulations of younger men and women are – rightly – under fresh scrutiny).

Like any feeding frenzy, the action will be indiscriminate. There will be collateral damage – blameless, and wronged, victims – researchers, party activists, spouses and partners will find their privacy invaded and their own reputations trashed in the media.

The clearout in the ranks of the Cabinet, the Government and perhaps even the Conservative Party in the Commons is not over yet. While the focus may be on the Treasury beaches, attention will soon enough turn to the opposition parties.

It is likely that there will be more casualties on that side of the political divide. Their embarrassment may be all the greater for the way Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP champion equality and tolerance: the Labour member for Sheffield Hallam, Jared O’Mara, whose disturbing views on women have been exhumed from the internet, was, after all a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Women and Equalities. Apparently he once said that fat women “don’t deserve respect”: we shall see how much respect he can now claim as he faces an investigation and his constituency party.

Indeed the political fallout of these varied but universally depressing scandals may prove much more dramatic than the premature end of some political careers. For if Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Sir Vince Cable and the other leaders want to show just how serious they are they should, in due course and with due process, require some of their MPs to stand down immediately from the Commons. That means by-elections and a change in the already finely balanced arithmetic of the Commons – and the prospects for Brexit with it. The stakes in other words, are unusually high. It would be odd if the UK's economic future was shortly to be determined by revelations about fumblings in the backs of taxis and in Commons lifts, but that’s the British for you.

In this respect the current round of sleaze scandals may differ from the last one in the 1990s, when most of those involved managed to hang on to their seats during John Major’s government (also badly divided on Europe). Today the political penalties for transgression are tougher; less will be overlooked or kept quiet.

Although it is difficult even for a party leader to unseat an MP unwilling to quit, they can at least make the effort. If they do not do so then all the procedural reforms they promise will be utterly valueless. The message will be that, even now, you can get away with it. That is not a message the public tolerate.

Like the expenses scandal, something has to give, and there has to be some justice seen to be emerging from these squalid secret tales.