Labour fools no one in thinking it holds moral high ground

‘The PM should have faced his critics in the House on Monday’

- Tim Newark

FOR A politician usually adept at understanding the public mood, Boris Johnson has shown a tin ear over the current parliamentary standards crisis. But with Claudia Webbe, former Labour MP for Leicester East, being handed a suspended sentence last week, Labour really doesn’t hold the moral high ground in their exploitation of Tory sleaze.

The Prime Minister should have faced his critics in the House of Commons on Monday. Having compelled the majority of his MPs, many against their better judgments, to back him in last week’s standards overhaul vote, than to ditch them in a rapid U-turn, is appallingly bad leadership.

And to not even turn up to discuss the debacle is another dent in his reputation among fellow Tories.

He may argue he doesn’t want to add any fuel to Labour’s onslaught of self-righteousness, but it doesn’t go down well with many of the new Red Wall MPs who have worked hard to get Labour voters to switch allegiances.

“Politics is a team effort,” said former chief whip Mark Harper MP. “When the captain gets their team into trouble by getting something wrong, they should apologise to them in the House.” o