No one is immune to bribery or corruption. This expression has been traced to a speech given by Sir Robert Walpole in 1734, as reported in William Coxe’s Memoirs of the British statesman (1798). Walpole was castigating corrupt members of Parliament, whom he called pretended patriots and said, “All those men have their price.” However, another source printed in 1734 refers to the same expression as “an old maxim.” Whatever the ultimate origin, this cynical view of politicians has survived and has long been applied to anyone, male or female, whose influence or loyalty could be bought.