A return to the party of sleaze? Tory prospects in the wake of the Paterson scandal

In the wake of the Paterson scandal, questions are being raised about the conduct of our ruling Party.

Amana Khan
15th November 2021
Owen Paterson (image credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Owen Paterson was found to have lobbied the government on behalf of two separate firms, Randox and Lynn's Country Foods, in what was described in the dedicated Committee on Standards report as "an egregious case of paid advocacy". Investigated on suspicion of breaching MP lobbying rules by Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Paterson was found to have approached officials at both the Food Standards Agency and the Department for International Development multiple times on behalf of the third-party companies. For his advocacy on behalf of the two firms Paterson received a combined sum of over £100,000, this being in addition to the publicly funded salary of nearly £82,000 which he received as an MP.

As a result of Paterson’s actions, he faced a 30-day suspension from the House of Commons, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson seemed to defend Paterson through backing attacks to dismantle parliament’s anti-sleaze system. This caused major outcry from the public, the media, and other MPs, as Johnson’s actions were seen as “shameless” according to the Daily Mail. This caused Johnson to make a U-turn, withdrawing his support for Paterson, and it was announced that Paterson would resign from parliament, instead of facing a byelection and enduring his suspension. 

Boris Johnson attending the recent COP26 summit
(Image Credit: Number 10 on Flickr, Attribution by CC 2.0)

Despite such damage control, the actions of Paterson and the reaction of Johnson have encouraged the widespread criticism of tory party sleaze— and it is not only opposing parties who have gotten behind this perception of the Tories, but the media, as well as the public. This was not helped by the fact that Boris has been told to apologize for his reactions multiple times, only recently confessing that the situation could've been handled 'better'.

The idea of the Tory party being ‘sleazy’ has been further perpetuated by Boris Johnson’ flat refurbishments, the bill for which having been settled by Lord Brownlow, a peer and a donor. This has raised questions around the influence that donors have over Tory MPs and the PM, encouraging a general perception of party sleaze, with former Prime Minister, John Major arguing that the government had participated in “politically corrupt activities.”

It is clear that party sleaze has encouraged a sense of discontent or distrust amongst the public

The controversies around the influence that donors have has not gone unnoticed by the general public, especially after the Paterson scandal. A recent poll has shown that the ratings for those who consider Boris Johnson a 'good Prime Minister' have suffered a drastic fall to 35 percent, Labour's unchanging 36 percent placing the opposition party in the lead.

It is clear that party sleaze has encouraged a sense of discontent or distrust amongst the public— an attitude severely detrimental to the reputation of both the Tories (more than a quarter of which have high paying second-jobs) and the Prime Minister, as well as having an apparent impact on the voting intentions of the British public. 

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