Keir Starmer says the prime minister was “dragged kicking and screaming” into his new position on MPs’ second jobs, after Boris Johnson caved to pressure and announced he had written to the Commons speaker requesting a ban on politicians accepting paid work as political consultants and lobbyists.
“We’ve had two weeks of Tory sleaze and corruption,” Sir Keir told a press conference earlier, on the eve of a Labour-tabled vote on the multiple sleaze allegations hurled at Conservatives in recent weeks.
It comes after Chris Bryant, chair of the standards committee, accused the government of “flapping around like headless chickens”. He told MPs: “These are not simple issues, which is why I think it’s really important that you don’t have government ministers in sudden kneejerk reaction to a crisis legislating in a way which we might end up regretting.”
Earlier, Mr Johnson stole Sir Keir’s spotlight today by publishing the letter he wrote to Lindsay Hoyle on Twitter, seconds before the Labour leader got on stage to deliver a scathing attack on the “sleaze-filled” government.
Conservatives are reportedly already complaining that the PM’s proposals are “vague” and lack clarity, though.
