UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was, humiliatingly, forced to deny his government is corrupt at the COP26 climate conference.(Credit: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing St)
Hamed Chapman
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has, this month, tarnished the UK’s reputation on the world stage after he was forced to deny his Government was corrupt amid the growing allegation of sleaze among, particularly, Tory MPs.
A conflict of interest scandal brewed over the colossal number of MPs having second jobs following on from an ill-fated attempt by his Government to alter Parliament’s standards system to protect a former Conservative Cabinet Minister. Owen Paterson was found guilty of an “egregious case of paid advocacy” for lobbying for two firms that had him on the payroll.
There were also widespread revelations that the former Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, used his parliamentary office for lucrative private work, drawing comparisons with when the ruling party was embroiled in sleaze accusations back in the 1990s and over the extent of expenses a decade ago.
“I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country nor do I believe that our institutions are corrupt,” Johnson said at a news conference in Glasgow when he was hoping to convince world leaders to commit further in their pledges at the COP26 climate conference.
“What you’ve got is cases where, sadly, MPs have broken the rules in the past, maybe guilty of breaking the rules today. What I want to see is them facing appropriate sanctions,” he insisted.
In London, Labour Leader Keir Starmer accused the Prime Minister of damaging himself and his party, saying “when he deliberately undermines those charged with stopping corruption, he corrodes that trust.”
“When the Prime Minister gets the green light to corruption, he corrodes that trust.When he says that the rules to stop vested interest don’t apply to his friends, he corrodes that trust.”
Johnston attempted to alter the rules of sanctioning errant MPs for Paterson, who was under threat of suspension but was forced u-turn following backlash from Tories whipped, to force through the vote in the House of Commons and led to the former minister eventually resigning.
Regarding the former Attorney General, Cox claimed he gave “primary importance and fully carried out” his work in his constituency and that he “does not believe that he breached the rules” while doing his second job in the British Virgin Islands.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner, announced that she had written to the Commissioner for Standards urging an investigation into Cox’s behaviour. Rayner said he was “using his taxpayer-funded office in Parliament to work for a tax haven under investigation for corruption is a brazen breach of the rules and an insult to taxpayers.”
Johnson’s government are accused of disregarding openness standards, lacking accountability, snubbing conventions, undermining democratic institutions and subverting governance norms throughout his premiership.
