A sense of focus can see this Government out of the storm

I have seen disaster turn to triumph, and it can be done again. The PM needs to get on the front foot

If the late Willie Whitelaw was around in Government today, I have no doubt what his first comment would be on the current state of our political system. “In politics,” he used to say, “nothing is ever so good or so bad as it first seems.” In my years as party leader and in two cabinets I often remembered and repeated these words, warning others not to be too exultant when things were going well, or excessively depressed when they weren’t.

For MPS at the moment, caught up in the maelstrom of plotting, knifing, backstabbing, denunciation, police referrals and angry denials that we have seen for the last 10 days, the mood is undoubtedly dire.

For Conservatives, beleaguered in a minority administration and beset by accusations while the vast issues of negotiating Brexit and keeping the economy going need to be tackled, each day’s headlines seem terrible. Surely things are as bad as they can get?

Well, no, seen in historical perspective they’re not.

When Parliament burnt down in 1834, MPS were so unpopular that the large crowd that gathered outside just stood and cheered. Things are not quite at that point – although if moving out for renovations doesn’t happen soon we might have the fire if not the cheering.

And from a Conservative standpoint, I can lay claim to having endured as leader far worse times than anything yet visited upon my old colleagues in recent months.

Having lost half our seats in 1997, we Tories seemed completely washed up. At times we were 40 points behind Tony Blair – yes, our poll deficit was as big as our entire support is today. Nearly all the rising talent had been wiped out, whereas today the backbenches are brimming with it. Our opponents in New Labour had found a message hardly anyone disagreed with. Whatever Jeremy Corbyn’s appeal, that is not the case with Labour led by him.

So my first bit of advice to Conservatives as to how to get through the current storms is simple: buck up, look confident and see everything in proportion.

There are too many Tories walking around looking miserable. At the same time, however, it is vital to deal decisively with the immediate problem, in this case the continuing revelations about sexual harassment or assault.

Theresa May’s attempt to agree with other parties a complaints procedure and independent adjudicator is the right thing to do.

MPS’ staff are employed at public expense, according to pay scales already set independently. It is clearly necessary for them to be able to go to an authoritative body if they think they are being bullied or abused in any way – one with sufficient power to do something about it.

In all such crises, however, there is a temptation to go too far. This happened in the expenses scandal, when a much-needed tightening up was accompanied by making it harder for MPS to have outside interests, which leads to a more introverted Parliament with less up-to-date experience of the outside world.

The equivalent today would be employing all MPS’ staff centrally, curtailing the freedom to choose the right local person to work with a particular MP in his or her constituency. Most MPS of all parties are not evil, abusive, or sexual predators. They are more likely to become genuine friends of the people who work for them than a threat.

Having done this, it is important to treat what has happened as necessary change rather than a disaster.

It is not true that what was acceptable in the past is no longer so today. Unwanted advances were never acceptable but the ability to speak out about them is now much greater. The result will be an atmosphere of greater respect and restraint, which is no bad thing. That has to be the mood of the entire party – or all the parties – not just the people at the top.

It’s still difficult, of course, for leaders to regain the initiative even after taking these steps. For a while, the media focus on the scandals is so intense that there is little point announcing other policies, and senior ministers have to pick their way verbally around the bodies of their fallen colleagues.

Yet keeping focused on what is going to be happening in a few weeks or months is the most important lesson of all in handling this kind of crisis. We should all hope that Philip Hammond is thinking of nothing other than the Budget later this month, and that David Davis is obsessed only with the talks in Brussels set to resume this week.

The Government’s aim should be to be fully on the front foot by the end of the year, with a string of announcements to follow the Budget on November 22 and a more confident assessment of Brexit to follow any breakthrough in the talks at the European Council on December 14.

Then, in a more settled atmosphere, the Prime Minister could undertake a reshuffle limited by circumstances but bold enough to bring on four or five of the future stars who have been elected in recent years.

Is that achievable? Yes it is, particularly in Government with the power to set the agenda. Even in opposition, I remember in early 1999 being under fire from every quarter, with demands for me to resign and polls turning in terrible results.

And yet by early June we went on to win the European elections of that year with a Tory victory that has not been bettered since. I admit I did not go on to further triumphs, but the point is that political sentiment can be turned around by steady concentration on the main issues. If you keep putting one foot in front of another, you can walk out of the storm.

It is extraordinary, demeaning and sad that at a time when hugely important events are taking place in China and the Middle East, and Britain’s entire relationship with 27 of its neighbours is up for negotiation, the country has been preoccupied with the human failings of a fairly small proportion of its politicians.

But the knowledge that there is an answer to it, a positive way of looking at it, and an opportunity to learn and move on from it, should be encouraging to the bewildered voter and the embattled minster alike.