How Labour and Lib Dems are using the sleaze scandal to their advantage

The sleaze row has clear benefits for Labour and appears to be offering a rare glimpse of unity, writes Ashley Cowburn, but the party still remains stagnant in the polls

‘Running scared’: the opposition was quick to point out the PM’s absence on Monday (PA)

After the extraordinary scenes last week, with Boris Johnson attempting to neuter the Standards Committee and prevent the suspension of a Tory MP found to have carried out an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules, sleaze is firmly back on the agenda at Westminster.

There has also been a steady stream of embarrassing revelations for the government, notably a report that 15 of the last 16 Tory former treasurers have been offered a peerage, having each donated in excess of £3m to the party’s coffers.

In addition, the disclosure that the Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox, though no longer a government minister, voted from the Caribbean in spring while working at a second job in the British Virgin Islands will inevitably add to the impression of sleaze.

Perhaps naturally, the opposition parties have sought to capitalise on the issue, with online adverts from Labour and the Liberal Democrats highlighting MPs in vulnerable constituencies who voted with the government to block Owen Paterson’s suspension last week.

“Just voted to save one of his mates who broke the rules,” one Labour advert reads. “One rule for them, another for everyone else.”

Labour has previously sought to highlight allegations of sleaze facing No 10, but none seem to have gained as much traction as the audacious bid to create a Conservative-dominated committee, an attempt that the government now admits was a “mistake”.

Out of Covid isolation at the weekend, Starmer headed straight to the BBC studios to appear on The Andrew Marr Show, warning that the “prime minister has form” as he pointed to Johnson’s decision to stand by Priti Patel when she was found to have breached the ministerial code and his threats to rein in the Electoral Commission.

“It’s a pattern of behaviour by a prime minister who doesn’t know how to uphold standards in public life,” Starmer said.

The Liberal Democrats, who have been struggling to make an impact at Westminster, successfully secured an emergency debate on the issue of standards and sleaze, and, consequently, crucial time on the airwaves to further highlight the issue.

While Monday’s debate showcased divisions in the Tory ranks, the decision of the prime minister to skip the session was also seized on, with the opposition parties accusing him of “running scared”.

Labour headquarters also claimed that research shows Johnson has made journeys totalling 26,000 miles over the past decade to avoid embarrassment in parliament, including his trip to a hospital in northeast England on Monday and a flight to Afghanistan during a vote on Heathrow expansion in 2018.

The sleaze row has clear benefits for Labour and appears to be offering a rare glimpse of unity within the party: on Monday, the left-wing MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who previously lashed out at Labour’s “goddam awful leadership”, said: “The taking down of Tory corruption by Keir Starmer was masterful today in the chamber.

“It’s a reminder to those of us on the left that our disagreements pale into insignificance when Keir shows leadership whilst Boris Johnson runs and hides.”

However, while the four most recent polls point towards a dip in support for the Conservative Party, both Labour and the Liberal Democrats appear relatively stagnant in the polls. Starmer appears to be banking on a drip, drip of sleaze stories severely damaging the Tories’ electoral prospects. He also needs to focus much more on how to actually improve Labour’s ratings and provide a clear vision for government.