Lisa Smart, MP for Hazel Grove

STANDARDS in public life matter.

- 

They are not box-ticking exercises or niceties. They are the foundation upon which trust in democracy is built. Without that trust, public life - and public service - is under threat.

Recent events have shown how far these standards have slipped for some. When a Prime Minister can appoint a political ally to one of the most sensitive diplomatic posts in the world, with limited accountability, something is fundamentally broken.

Despite attempts to fix obvious wrongs through resignations amid scandal, the damage is done. Especially the damage to public trust in our institutions.

Peter Mandelson was appointed to one of our most sensitive diplomatic positions despite links to Jeffery Epstein extensively reported by the Financial Times and Channel 4 News.

In 2019, Channel 4’s Dispatches interviewed a witness who saw Epstein, in prison for child sex trafficking, taking a phone call from Mandelson, asking for help to meet the then CEO of J.P. Morgan. All this information was in the public domain, and available to those who appointed him.