Martin Kettle identifies that the real challenge for the new Labour government is to demand that MPs absorb the Nolan principles into their bloodstream (Starmer wants us to believe we can trust politicians again. That’s huge – but he has to mean it, 4 July).
I left the Commons standards committee in 2022, but in the preceding six years I had adjudicated on several prominent cases, including Boris Johnson (three times); Ian Paisley Jr, which led to the first triggering of the Recall of MPs Act 2015; Keith Vaz, which resulted in the longest suspension of an MP in recent times (six months); and Owen Paterson, for an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules, which also sparked an attempt by the government to sideline lay members and restructure the standards system.
