Another week and, with disturbing predictability, yet another miscreant MP. Another recall petition looms as a result, carrying the likelihood of another parliamentary byelection to follow. And with that, another potential humiliation for the Conservatives. At times, while the world roils, it seems as if Britain’s party of power is simply rotting away before our eyes.
This time the offender is Peter Bone, the publicity-seeking rightwing MP for Wellingborough whose career reflects the ascent and now the eclipse of the Tory party’s Brexit obsessives – he was suspended from the party earlier this month. Even were there no other evidence against Boris Johnson’s judgment, you would find enough in his decision last year, as he tried to cling on to power, to make Bone a minister while the MP was under investigation. It is no surprise that a survey this week revealed that lack of faith in politics is now a larger public concern than Europe.
