After Conway, heed Coulson

Wednesday, 30th January 2008

The Spectator on the Derek Conway scandal

Nonetheless, the Tories would be foolish to believe that the Conway affair can be buried in a broader argument about the conduct of all MPs, the integrity of the Commons as a whole and the need to transform a gentleman’s club still governed by nods and winks into a modern organisation that commands public trust. All this is important. But there is no denying the very specific toxicity of this case to the Conservatives. There is a risk that it will do grave damage to the meticulous work Mr Cameron has undertaken in the past two years to alter perceptions of the Tories.

Labour ‘sleaze’ stories have tended to involve allegations that policy or favours were for sale (Ecclestone, Hinduja, Mittal) or that the party had become so grand and elitist that it had not bothered to follow its own rules on donations (Peter Hain, the David Abrahams case). Mr Conway’s conduct, as recorded by the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee in toe-curling detail, harks back to another era when the Tory party was regarded by the public as a gang devoted to self-enrichment and exploiting office to feather its nests: the era of cash for questions, the Neil Hamilton saga, brown paper envelopes and the Nolan inquiry.

What Mr Conway did suggests that he, at least, learnt nothing from this grisly period in his party’s history. He is now under investigation over the disbursement of up to £260,000 of taxpayers’ money to his wife and two sons. The Standards and Privileges Committee ruled ‘that FC [the MP’s younger son Freddie Conway — then an undergraduate at Newcastle University] seems to have been all but invisible during the period of his employment....This arrangement was, at the least, an improper use of parliamentary allowances; at worst it was a serious diversion of public funds.’

Most voters would call this embezzlement of the money that they pay through the tax system, and will have been sickened by Mr Conway’s use of the phrase ‘administrative shortcomings’ in his apology to MPs — a phrase that truly exemplifies Orwell’s dictum that political language ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable’.

Mr Cameron was wrong to wait until Tuesday to withdraw the whip from Mr Conway. On Monday the Conservative party declared that: ‘Derek Conway has apologised fully on the floor of the House of Commons and the Whip has not been withdrawn. The appropriate punishment is being administered.’ Overnight, the Tory leader changed his mind. This was the right decision, but it looked dangerously like the product of political calculation rather than principled decisiveness. Yes, Mr Cameron did not dither for as long as the Prime Minister did over Peter Hain, but he should not have dithered at all.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3 Next page

madasafish

January 31st, 2008 4:12pm Report this comment

Well said and very true. I see no sign that the Conservative Party's older members have learned anything from over a decade in Opposition. Frankly the way MPs of all parties use the FIO to stop invetsigation of expenses says it all: no smoke etc. In the day of the internet, MPs work as if the quill pen has just been invented.

Ben Philips

February 1st, 2008 1:50pm Report this comment

While I accept that Mr Conway's actions were utterly reprehensible, please don't 'talk' the Conservative prospects down unduly. I do believe we've turned a corner and people can finally see that Emperor Brown has no clothes. They're desperate for an alternative and the Tories have everything to play for...

Morvan

February 2nd, 2008 10:15am Report this comment

What is needed is for Conway to be prosecuted for embezzlement and to spill the beans in his defence. There are few honourable exceptions to the cult of 'snout in trough' at the Palace of Westminster. The only difference is a matter of degree. It is time for a complete overhaul of system. A fixed term for a parliament (4 years), a fixed salary for MP's, audited expenses backed by receipts as for everyone else, and no hiding place from the FoIA. I would also like to see members of the lower house elected by constituencies, but fewer of them with roughly equal electorates, and the upper by counties with two members per county. Hopefully this would protect us from the dictatorship of the majority; the fatal flaw of democracy.

angela king

February 2nd, 2008 7:26pm Report this comment

I am absolutelu furious at the way Derek Conway has behaved, and he should be more severely punished. After all Mr. Cameron's hard work, Mr. Conway is a huge blot on an immaculate score sheet. He has let the side down in an appalling manner and the pictures of his sons carousing at the expense of the tax payer just make it worse. Can't they keep out of the nightclubs for a few weeks and have the decency to avoid more political backlash? They are probably too brainless to consider this. I am struggling to express how angry I am, but I do agree with Ben Philips that the Conservative Party has turned a corner. Mr. Cameron dealt firmly with the situation - to wait a day was not wrong - you must have to weigh these things up, but Mr. Conway should now be investigated by the police, as anyone who had behaved in the same way elsewhere would be. If this practice is rife, they need to stamp it out pretty sharply to restore faith in politicians in general. Mr. Conway, SHAME ON YOU.

Post comment