This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Nolan Principles of Public Life. For too much of that time, these seven principles – integrity, honesty, accountability, openness, leadership, selflessness, and objectivity – have been frequently invoked but less reliably observed.
Labour’s emphasis on a politics of service, and its manifesto pledge to uphold “the highest standards of integrity and honesty”, seemed to promise brighter days. Yet for all the talk of cleaning up politics, “a new dawn” has not yet broken.
The government can chalk up partial successes when it comes to tackling MPs’ second jobs – though frankly more still needs to be done on that – and the reinstated House of Commons’ Modernisation Committee. But overall, a government that promised much has made a slow start.
Keir Starmer was notably slower in publishing his version of the Ministerial Code – in which the Nolan Principles are embedded – than many of his predecessors. Cameron, the last Leader of the Opposition to become Prime Minister, published his version of the code within three weeks of the 2010 election. Starmer took four months.
Even then, Starmer’s version of the Code fails to address multiple shortcomings. Given the damage done by freebiegate for public trust in politics, it was widely briefed that the new code tightened the rules on gifts. Yet in practice, there is no change to the code that would restrict Ministers accepting expensive freebies.
It’s business as usual, too, for former Ministers looking to take on other jobs outside government, even though on several occasions under the last government it was clear that ACOBA is not able to enforce the current rules.
While the new code does hand power to the Independent Adviser to initiate their own investigations, the Prime Minister can still ignore their advice without explanation.
When Starmer became Prime Minister, he vowed to “restore service and respect to politics”. Not just with words, he said, but with actions. This is why freebiegate was so damaging. By his actions, Starmer seemed to be serving himself, rather than the public. And, what’s more, when confronted by the media, Starmer’s instinct was to insist that no rules had been broken, oblivious to the impression of entitlement his behaviour had created. Accountability and integrity, as well as honesty, selflessness and leadership, require politicians to own up to their mistakes. A prompt, fulsome apology would have shown Starmer meant what he said outside Number 10.
Freebiegate also tapped into a broader problem: voters worry that they are the last to be listened to, and instead, politics follows the money. A cap on donations – Unlock Democracy recommends ÂŁ5,000 – would be a welcome step forward in reassuring the public that every voice matters in our democracy, not just those with the deepest pockets.
But it’ll take more than this to prove to voters that Labour is serious about cleaning up politics. In a new paper published this week, we’ve put forward a series of concrete proposals that we hope the government – and all parties – will embrace.
Constituents should know what to expect from their MP. The lack, at present, of a clear job description for MPs raises the bar for accountability, while lowering it for standards. In the last parliament, neither Nadine Dorries nor Matt Hancock were punished for failing to turn up over lengthy periods, sapping public confidence. A job description – against which constituents and the Standards Commissioner can measure performance – allied to changes to the MPs’ Code of Conduct and Recall of MPs Act, would stop this happening.
A cap on earnings from second jobs at half an MP’s salary, and a £200 per-item limit on freebies, would also bolster politicians’ reputation.
In the Lords, to address the widespread perception of cronyism generated by major party donors receiving peerages, much greater authority should be handed to the House of Lords Appointments Commission to block unsuitable nominations.
Labour meanwhile is said to be preparing a long list of new peerage nominations in the New Year’s Honours List. Although nominees will now have to be “justified”, this falls far short of Labour’s pre-election promises.
Not only on the Lords – where plans seem to have been scaled back from wholesale abolition in a first governmental term to Ministers avoiding commitments to future reform during passage of the Hereditary Peers Bill – but on standards in general, not least Labour’s as-yet-unfulfilled manifesto commitment to set up a new independent Ethics and Integrity Commission “to ensure probity in government”.
Labour has a solemn duty to lead by example. Public confidence in politics is already dangerously low. Our democracy cannot afford another government dogged by perceptions of sleaze and hypocrisy.
Pledges to clean up politics from Opposition are the easy part. Living up to them is the test. For all our sakes, Starmer’s government must show it can walk the talk.
Labour must walk the talk on cleaning up politics
