New Conservative MPs, especially in “red wall” seats, have shed sweat and tears this week after being strong-armed into trying to save a veteran colleague from suspension by ripping up anti-sleaze rules before the government was forced into a screeching U-turn.
Some from the 2019 intake privately confessed their fury at being told by Downing Street and Tory whips to put their necks on the line for Owen Paterson, who they believed had broken Commons rules and would not recognise them in the corridor.
The move has left a small but potentially permanent scar on their relationship with the top of the party, new MPs said, with trust in No 10’s ability to avoid more errors further diminished.
One Tory elected in a red wall seat in 2019 said he thought the government “wouldn’t have gone to this trouble for others and it’s more a case of having friends in high places”.
He called the saga a “complete waste of political capital” and said that while many colleagues backed reform of how MPs are scrutinised – by the standards commissioner and the expenses watchdog, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority – this should have been separated out and not conflated with Paterson’s wrongdoing.
“The fallout is also worse than if he’d just taken it on the chin,” the MP added, saying Paterson’s insistence he would do the same thing again was not a view shared by many colleagues. “A lot of people walking through the lobby wouldn’t,” he cautioned.
A new Tory MP from the party’s traditional heartlands said they and others from the 2019 intake were “not holding back about how angry we are”.
She said: “Those of us who swallowed hard for the government over this recent issue have put their integrity on the line. Was it worth it? I do not want to see this happen again. There are some really decent people in the new intake and they shouldn’t be taken for granted.”
Another confessed they were “so tired of crying” and had been racked with frustration at having to protect Paterson.
Others complained about “taking shit for another man I’ve never met, after Dominic Cummings”, and being “hung out to dry to protect someone who wouldn’t even recognise me in the corridor”.
Few new Tories have spoken out publicly. But one, Aaron Bell, the MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, said in the Commons debate on the issue this week that he would vote against the government-backed amendment, claiming it “makes it looks like we’re moving the goalposts” by changing the rules specially for Paterson.
A minister noted that many of the latest intake were “quite bolshie” already, and it would not have helped the party by pushing them away even further.
“They’ve been put through a process where they had to take one for the team and the whole thing exploded less than 24 hours later,” they said. “There are so many quick U-turns, it would almost be better if there was some material damage.
“If we actually dropped significantly and for a sustained period in the polls, it might make the powers that be deal with this issue. The approach now seems to be ‘we dodged another bullet there lads, let’s wait and see what the next one is’.”
Eyebrows have also been raised at Angela Richardson, who became the MP for Guildford in 2019, losing her job as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in Michael Gove’s levelling up department for abstaining on the amendment to spare Paterson’s suspension, only to be reinstated the following day when the government reversed course.
A Tory aide said the move could encourage other PPSs to rebel against three-line whips, given their excuse would be “well, we thought there would be a U-turn”.
