Birkenhead attributes the origin of the saying to Beaverbrook explaining to

Kipling that his ambition was power without responsibility, to which Kipling replied I see, the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages

Birkenhead does not give his source, or exact date;but it is in his chapter 1926-1930......so Beaverbrook may have seized on a current phrase.

Ken Frazer