Shameful & corrupt
SIR John Major launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson yesterday, accusing him of running a “politically corrupt” administration.
The former Tory PM said the handling of the Owen Paterson MP lobbying scandal was “shameful, wrong and unworthy of this or indeed any government”.
He added witheringly: “It also had the effect of trashing the reputation of Parliament.”
Mr Johnson U-turned last week over his bid to stop Mr Paterson’s 30-day Commons suspension demanded by Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone after he broke lobbying rules.
When the PM abandoned his plan to set up a Tory-dominated committee to police MPS’ behaviour, the MP quit.
Sir John, who set up the Committee on Standards in Public Life when his own 1990s government suffered sleaze, said Mr Johnson’s actions had hurt the UK’S standing abroad. He told Radio
4: “Sleaze was unacceptable when I was there and is unacceptable today.”
Sir John said the current PM was able to treat Parliament “with contempt” due to his 80-seat majority.
And he accused Mr Johnson’s regime of arrogance, saying: “There is a whiff of ‘we are the masters now’. “Whenever they run up against difficulties, they react not with understanding but in a hostile fashion.” Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng gave interviews suggesting Ms Stone should quit.
The PM has not ruled out giving Mr Paterson a peerage, which Sir John called “extraordinary”.
Standards Committee chairman and Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “Major is right.”
Meanwhile the Lib Dems yesterday demanded a Cabinet Office probe into claims that Tory whips had told their MPS they would lose cash for their constituencies if they failed to back the PM’S bid to save Mr Paterson.
And Labour told the Tories to publish Electoral Commission findings into its probe over claims the PM’S Downing Street flat refit broke funding rules.