The sleaze row has given Labour fresh impetus – they sound like an effective opposition

Editorial: The prime minister may have saved face with an amorphous tightening up of the regulations around second jobs, but more damage has been done to his authority

(Dave Brown)

Two turbulent weeks of sleaze and much has changed – but too much remains depressingly, stubbornly the same about the way politics is done. It will not impress the voters.

The main political impact of the miscellaneous examples of unwise (and worse) behaviour by parliamentarians – which continues – has been to destabilise the premiership of Boris Johnson. Although he prefers to ignore the old adage, the buck really does stop with him.

It was he who approved the doomed and ill-thought-through scheme to rescue Owen Paterson and emasculate the standards commissioner; it was he who pushed it through the Commons, despite the misgivings of Tory backbenchers; and it was he who decided on the U-turn that made fools of him and his party. Now he has proposed an amorphous and weak way of tightening up the regulations on second jobs and conflicts of interest – but only because Labour has skilfully turned the discontent on the government benches to its own advantage.

The prime minister may have saved face for now, but yet more damage has been done to his authority. Being reprimanded by the speaker of the house, Lindsay Hoyle, at Prime Minister’s Questions, along with a reckless accusation of “misconduct” at Keir Starmer under cover of a pun, merely proves he is as arrogant and incorrigible as ever. They cannot change him.

The Conservatives cannot be looking forward with pleasure to the months or even years of sleaze allegations yet to come. Yet for as long as reform is delayed, and complacency left undisturbed, the opposition will have ammunition, and the public fresh reasons to judge Mr Johnson.

For the first time in months, Labour has taken the lead in a number of opinion polls, albeit by a slim margin; but more to the point, the party sounds and acts more like an effective, energised opposition. The sleaze scandal has played to the strength of its leader, and has allowed two new stars to emerge: Angela Rayner and Thangam Debbonaire. Both are lively speakers who have developed a taste for humiliating Tories unwise enough to try to get in their way.

By contrast, the likes of Mr Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg increasingly seem like out-of-touch anachronisms. The Labour front bench seems to have regained some of its political confidence and acumen, and a commendable ability to make the most of parliamentary procedure and the actions and decisions of ministers and backbenchers alike. Anneliese Dodds’s forensic cataloguing of those who received contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic showed how it should be done.

It won’t be enough to win a general election in 2023 or 2024, but at least the governing party can no longer assume it can get away with anything. It’s been quite a fortnight, and there’s more to follow.