23rd May 2023
Today in parliament, during a debate on an urgent question related to the conduct of the current Home Secretary, a backbencher asked a striking and thought-provoking question:
“What’s wrong with this country? We used to have proper scandals abour sex or money, or about PM’s invading Iraq…”
Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh says the latest @SuellaBraverman controversy is overblown.
"What's wrong with this country? We used to have proper scandals abour sex or money, or about PM's invading Iraq…"
He says "the real scandal" is "mass immigration to this country". pic.twitter.com/NpKaEf52D4
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) May 23, 2023
There is an answer to this question, though perhaps not the one he wants or expects.
The reason is that the informal and often hidden ways these sort of issues used to be dealt with are no longer followed.
The hyper-partisanship and opportunism of ministers – especially in the last five or so years – means there is now a general attitude of getting away with things.
The unseen checks and balances provided by self-restraint – the soft constitutional conventions, as opposed to hard(ish) constitutional law – are old hat.
Cummings and Johnson may well be gone – but their damage to our constitutional arrangements lingers.
And so – there being no other way to deal with, say, the conduct of the current Home Secretary – it has become a parliamentary and public matter.
There is nothing as a buffer before any mess-up becomes part of day-to-day politics.
And unless ministers relearn the checks and balances of self restraint – in a word, “constitutionalism” – then it may be that there will be a lot more time and attention on these not “proper scandals”.
***
Comments Policy
This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.
Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome, or if they risk derailing the discussion.
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away …
“Mandy’s in the papers ’cause she tried to go to Spain
She’ll soon be in the dock and in the papers once again
Vicki’s got her story about the mirror and the cane
It may be false, it may be true
but nothing has been proved
Stephen’s in his dressing gown now breakfasting alone
Too sick to eat, he’s on his feet and to the telephone
The police inspector soothes him with his sympathetic tone
It may be false, it may be true
but nothing has been proved
In the House a resignation, guilty faces every one
Christine’s fallen out with Lucky, Johnny’s got a gun
Please Please Me’s number one
(It’s a scandal, it’s a scandal, such a scandal)
Now Stephen’s in the dock for spending money that was earned
by Christine and the prosecution says that money burned
a hole in Stephen’s pocket, for expensive sins he yearned
It may be false, it may be true
but nothing has been proved
In the news the suicide note, in the court an empty space
Even Mandy’s looking worried, Christine’s pale and drawn
Please Please Me’s number one
(It’s a scandal, it’s a scandal, such a scandal)
Last night he wrote these words to his friend
‘Sorry about the mess
I’m guilty ’til proved innocent in the public eye and press’
The funeral’s very quiet because all his friends have fled
They may be false, they may be true
they’ve all got better things to do
They may be false, they may be true
but nothing has been proved
No, nothing has been proved”
Is that really what Edward Leigh wants?
Or perhaps, he was thinking of T Dan Smith and Ernest Marples?
I think in Brexit, we have had Suez …
no scandals about money???
What about the procurement of PPE?
It seems that scandalous behaviour no longer even counts as a scandal
Brilliant piece from J Turner – respect.
I am not sure ‘the good old days’ were that much better. Rottenness was better hidden.
Now most governmental problems are fairly intractable and have no attractive solutions and the players are merely left with gamespersonship and yah-boo-sucks. Meanwhile we swirl around the plughole of history waiting for the slurping and gurgling noise.
In the past Ministers of the Crown voluntarily resigned when they did something wrong.
Now they stand at the Dispatch Box and blame someone else.
Worse. They stand there naked with jam all over their faces and other parts claiming they are clothed in royal robes of velvet and silk, and haven’t eaten since last week.