When Labour began their nasty sleaze campaign in the 1990s I always thought it would be prove to be a boomerang. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be such a forceful one. We have seen Minister after Minister forced out of office, and now see the senior advisers of the Prime Minister having to answer police enquiries.

It is more surpising, as Labour had some understanding of just what a boomerang it could be. Many of the so-called sleaze allegations against Conservative backbench MPs related to their private lives, where they were attacked for marital infidelity. When Labour arrived in power they asserted that such things were now private matters, had no bearing on a person’s public duties, and were off limits. It proved to be a wise change, as many Labour figures??had marital difficulties. Conservatives accepted the new ruling and kept out of private grief.

??Despite this dramatic narrowing of "sleaze" senior Labour figures still queued up to fall foul of the media’s standards for public conduct. Where Conservative "sleaze" had been confined to a few backbenchers, Labour had difficulty keeping some Cabinet members free of charges, and even had a Home Secretary at bay as the media probed.

It is the crowning irony of the Blair years that his tenure at No 10 should draw to a close amidst the drama of a police enquiry into allegations about cash for peerages and witholding evidence. The sadness, whatever the rights and wrongs of the allegations, is that democratic politics has been damaged further by all this. If there are no charges there will still be damage given what has been written and said, as Lord Kinnock has told us. Labour’s decision to attack Conservatives for "sleaze" on very flimsy grounds started the collapse in public support for party politics. Their fascination with media spinning and big money politics has continued the damage, and the??lifestyle of some Labour figures??accepting gifts of fancy holidays and trips??has not helped. The pity is they would have won the 1997 election without the sleaze campaign. It has proved to be a very costly mistake.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS