Shame

It’s been obvious for quite some time that there’s no longer any sense of shame in politics or public life.

Yes, Boris Johnson is an extreme example of this phenomenon - and his behaviour over many, many years shows that his particular lack of shame has only been fed by what’s happening in the public realm - and we can only hope that he is the zenith/nadir of this trend. But the trend has been heading in only one direction in the last decade or so.

The example that I’ve been using in recent years, when making this argument, is that of Lord Carrington, who was Margaret Thatcher’s Foreign Secretary when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982. He resigned on 5 April, taking responsibility for the FCO’s complacency in failing to foresee the invasion, as well as sending misleading signals on British intentions over the Falklands. He arguably did nothing wrong, but felt that he should resign because that’s what leaders do (Carrington was a Grenadier Guards major during World War 2).

Can you imagine any Conservative minister behaving like that now? Among MPs in the governing party, the sense of honour felt by Carrington is rare: the likes of Tobias Ellwood and Tom Tugenhadt seem to have it, but they’re both also former army officers, so they’re outliers in the personal honour stakes.

And while the Blair government certainly had its share of scandals, involving grift from the likes of David Blunkett and Peter Mandelson (both of whom were caught more than once), the perpetrators did resign when uncovered.

Increasingly since 2016, the attitude of ministers and MPs (of every political shade) is to brazen out any scandal. The view seems to be that there are few ways to be actually forced out out post, so just take the brunt of the negative public opinion and carry on. Ask Priti Patel, Bully of the Home Office. Or the 56 MPs currently being investigated for sexual misconduct.

The problem is that we rely on the integrity of public figures to do the decent thing, because our systems are set up for that. Our conventions rely on a sense of personal honour, but if that is absent, what’s to stop a lying, cheating, dishonest grifter from staying in office? Answers on a postcard to No 10 Downing Street, London SW1.

So it’s interesting to see Kier Starmer stake his political future on his sense of integrity, betting his leadership of the Labour Party on the decisions of the Durham police. It might not be a big gamble - it looks like the curry was a legitimate meal in the middle of a night of work on a by-election - but it does bring the issue of personal probity back on to the agenda. Of course, the Conservatives are not even attempting to play the game, suggesting that there are two (or even more) standards that are acceptable to the public. We’ll see what that public thinks when it comes to voting in the next General Election.

I just hope that this tide of shamelessness can ebb away and we can return to the standards of common decency that Conservatives are supposed to support. I’m sure that the irony of Conservative politicians acting in a way that would make previous generations shudder is lost on them, but it’s all too clear to the rest of us.