The voters’ backlash on Thursday is all but sealed. In local council elections across London and large swathes of the country, the Government will pay a price, not only for cost of living hikes and Covid miscalculations, but also for a torrent of damaging revelations about a new era of sleaze at Westminster.
Eye-popping stories of criminality, misconduct and sexism roll forth on a weekly basis and the boss class of the major parties looks evasive. More than 50 MPs are currently referred to Parliament’s ethics watchdog. Kwasi Kwarteng, the usually frank Business Secretary, wheedles that this is the fault of a few “bad apples” — a strikingly poor metaphor, given that the old saying goes on to say that a mouldy fruit spoils the entire barrel.
