What the Owen Paterson sleaze scandal has proved is the Conservatives are politically immoral, ethically bankrupt and unprincipled rogues.
Forced by a public and opposition backlash to abandon plans to change anti-corruption rules to protect him, this disgraceful episode must be the start not the end of intensified scrutiny of a PM and Tory Party out of control.
Had the Tories and Paterson accepted he would be suspended for 30 days over £112,000 a year banked from second and third jobs, he might have survived as an MP and the Government could have avoided damning criticism.
Every crisis is an opportunity for somebody and in this case that is for Keir Starmer, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru – plus principled Tory MPs who refused to be browbeaten by Boris Johnson into shielding dodgy Paterson.
Do you agree? Have your say in the comment section
Sleaze reveals a rotten Government. Decent politicians have a duty to expose the decay.
Covid boosts
Approval for the first , Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymruto treat Covid symptoms and discovery of a gene that doubles the risk of respiratory failure illustrate how much the fight against an ongoing pandemic is not over.
The twice a day tablet, molnupiravir, cuts the risk of ending up in hospital or death by about half and may prove a game-changer for the frail and those with weak immune systems.
And the gene, found in many people of South Asian heritage, can help explain why some groups had higher rates of infection and death.
But this war is far from over, 214 deaths and 37,269 fresh infections yesterday emphasise why we must all be jabbed and take care.
True heroes
TV viewers tonight cheered scientists who enabled the Mirror Pride of Britain Awards to take place in a London hotel.
The modesty of the Oxford University and AstraZeneca team who developed a Covid vaccine at breakneck speed was another reason why they deserved to be honoured.
