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After Conway, heed Coulson

Wednesday, 30th January 2008

The Spectator on the Derek Conway scandal

The Conway scandal is an embarrassment to a party aspiring to get tough on welfare fraud and on families fleecing the taxpayer. It also imperils Mr Cameron’s campaign to ‘clean up politics’. In September 2006, for instance, the Tory leader said that ‘Tony Blair’s government has tarnished politics and eroded public confidence in our traditional institutions....We need to restore trust and tackle the public’s underlying cynicism.’ Laudable sentiments. But one is tempted to say: politician, heal thyself.

The opportunity for Mr Cameron is that there is an undoubted split on this matter between the Tory movement as a whole and the parliamentary club. One has only to read the comments on The Spectator’s Coffee House blog (www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse) to see how angry with Mr Conway are those who would like to see a change of government. In contrast, some of Mr Conway’s colleagues have been revealingly reticent — or even outraged on his behalf. In the circumstances, it was truly extraordinary to hear Roger Gale, the Tory MP for North Thanet, say on Tuesday’s Today programme that Mr Conway was the victim of a ‘witch-hunt’. The key for the Conservative leader is to show that he is unequivocally on the side of the movement in the country and will be ruthlessly proactive in rooting out similar abuses in the Tory parliamentary party. Words alone will not do.

In a briefing to the Tory front bench in December, Andy Coulson, Mr Cameron’s excellent communications chief, warned that a party preparing itself for office must be supremely vigilant. It cannot afford to speak loosely or sail close to the wind. It must be above suspicion. These were sage words, and the Tory party should heed them especially carefully now. To a great extent, a country crying out for change is at the mercy of the main opposition party. To stand a chance of winning, it must behave impeccably. If the attitudes that lie behind the Conway affair are not rooted out from the Conservative benches once and for all, the country may yet drift haplessly into a fourth Labour term.

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madasafish

January 31st, 2008 4:12pm

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

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

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

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.