There’s something rotten in the Conservative Party. It started with the Prime Minister changing the rules to save his mate.
Owen Paterson has now resigned, but not before hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was paid to Randox, the company paying Paterson to lobby the Government.
The Government continued to award Randox Covid contracts after the company was forced to recall up to 750,000 test kits because they weren’t up to scratch.
We need an inquiry into whether Paterson’s lobbying influenced the Government’s decision to hand over millions in public funds without tender.
Paterson may be gone, but the sleaze story is going nowhere. Reports suggest one in four Tory MPs are moonlighting in second, third and even fourth jobs.
Many look to be cashing in on their connections and insights as former ministers, while others are speaking in the House of Commons on issues relating to their employers.
Cash for questions is back.
Now it’s emerged that a Tory MP has been taking money from a firm caught up in Chinese state-surveillance claims.
Is there no opportunity to line their pockets that these Tories won’t take?
It’s hard to know where to start with Geoffrey Cox, who has been heard from just twice in two years in the House of Commons.
Not only has he been doing a full-time job, earning a fortune and failing to put his constituents first, Cox has been working on behalf of a tax haven, the British Virgin Islands, facing allegations of corruption.
And it appears the whole thing has been sanctioned by the Government’s Chief Whip.
That Cox is working to defend a tax haven really sticks in the throat. His colleague Adam Afriyie is currently facing potential bankruptcy for unpaid taxes. Yet both MPs loyally voted through the Conservative Government’s tax increases on working families.
As the revelations have unfolded, Boris Johnson looks paralysed.
He won’t apologise. He has no plan to clean up politics. It’s not clear whether he understands that what his MPs have been up to is wrong.
Don’t forget, he described his own outside earnings of £250,000 a year as “chicken feed”. I had £20 to my name when I was first elected to Parliament.
Compare and contrast with Keir Starmer. Before he came into politics, Keir headed up the Crown Prosecution Service. He took the decision to prosecute MPs who cheated on their expenses, ensuring they faced jail time.
Throughout his career, he spent much of his time doing unpaid work for causes he believed in – standing up for ordinary people against powerful interests.
And while the Prime Minister has focused on trying to get his mates off the hook, Keir has a plan to clean up our politics.
Ban MPs from paid consultancies and directorships. Ban ministers from taking on lobbying gigs for five years.
And set up an Office for Value for Money, to make sure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.
I know who I trust to clean up this mess.
