Britain’s getting more corrupt. Will kicking the Tories out help?

LONDON — Labour has promised to drain the Westminster swamp if it wins the U.K. election next month. Good luck with that.

After 14 years of the Conservatives, Britain enjoys its lowest-ever ranking in the global corruption index — an annual study of graft by Transparency International — while public confidence in political institutions has hit international lows.

Lurid headlines about Covid contracts doled to out politically-connected firms, rule-breaking lockdown parties in Boris Johnson’s former government, and misbehaving lawmakers of all stripes have contributed to a sense of ethical malaise in the U.K. as it heads for a July 4 election.

On course to beat the Conservatives handsomely next month, Labour has decryied Tory “sleaze.”

But under the surface, cracks are already appearing.

The opposition party, led by Keir Starmer, is pinning its hopes on a new, broad-brush Ethics and Integrity Commission. The idea is to pull together Westminster’s confusing web of standards regulators — often pilloried as toothless — into one powerful body that can hold feet to the fire.

But the details of the project suggest Labour has already softened parts of its big plan to tackle cronyism.

The party once promised to ban members of parliament from having second jobs with “very limited exemptions,” after multiple stories of lawmakers doing the bidding of outside firms while sitting in the House of Commons.

But that vow was softened to banning only “paid advisory or consultancy roles” in Labour’s election manifesto, with further restrictions possible later.

A previous pledge to introduce a blanket, five-year ban on former ministers taking up consultancy or lobbying work once they leave government has also been watered down to proscribe such roles only if they are “related to their former job.”

And so, as Labour eyes victory, anti-corruption campaigners are staying vigilant. A Starmer administration will need to quickly demonstrate it’s prioritizing cleaning up Westminster, they state — or risk losing voter trust.

Daniel Bruce, CEO of campaign group Transparency International UK, said Starmer needs to bank “easy” wins to set the tone. For one, he argued, Labour needs to make good on its promise to give the prime minister’s ethics adviser — who can currently only investigate ministers if the prime minister agrees — real teeth.

“[Labour] have committed to doing that in their manifesto,” Bruce noted. “You can do that from day one. That doesn’t require changes to any instrument. It’s not a statutory provision. It’s just a matter of procedure.”

New dogs, old tricks

Opposition parties are notorious for promising to clamp down on cronyism — an easy promise to make when you’re not the ones wielding power.

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair pitched his landslide 1997 campaign as an antidote to years of Conservative scandal, for example, claiming his party would be “purer than pure.”

In 2010, fresh-faced Conservative leader David Cameron promised major transparency and governance reforms as a scandal featuring lawmakers claiming wild, taxpayer-funded expenses tanked public trust.

Yet once in government, each former opposition firebrand was soon beset by their own scandals — with some of their worthiest pledges derailed by events and inertia.

Cameron’s initial changes — improving public access to government data, tightening procurement rules, and unveiling Britain’s first-ever register of lobbying — was overshadowed by his own post-government involvement in a major lobbying scandal. The lobbying register he once touted has been so derided that lobbyists themselves have pled for tougher rules to prevent politicians from sullying their industry’s reputation.

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair pitched his landslide 1997 campaign as an antidote to years of Conservative scandal, for example, claiming his party would be “purer than pure.” | Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Blair’s holier-than-thou stance was soon tested by his own cash-for-access scandals. After leaving government he cursed himself as a “naive, foolish irresponsible nincompoop” for having introduced the U.K.’s pioneering Freedom of Information Act in the first place.

“The temptation for political parties is to talk tough on ethics while in opposition but to let things slide in government,” said Alex Thomas, program director at the Institute for Government think tank.

“We’ve seen over the last few years how strong ethical rules help governments work well and keep out of trouble,” he added. “It will be important that any incoming government takes this agenda seriously and implements reform.”

Delivery dilemma

On the current election trail, Labour has insisted it really will make big changes to the way Westminster polices bad behavior.

Pressed on his commitment to the agenda at the launch of his party’s manifesto last week, Starmer said he’d launch the reforms “straight away.” Appearing to acknowledge deep voter cynicism about successive promises to do things differently, the Labour leader said: “I know that nobody will believe it’s changed until they see the action that follows.”

Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray — poached from the heart of the civil service, where she served as Whitehall’s feared propriety and ethics chief — at least knows her way around. But the jury is out on whether she’s likely to drive change — or merely perpetuate a system that has marked its own homework for too long.

One person who saw her in action in government, granted anonymity to speak frankly, reckoned Gray will genuinely want to improve the ethics and standards regime in government — but that doing so won’t be top of her priorities.

“It’s a hobby horse of hers and something she cared about while she was in government,” the person said. “If there are changes, she’ll want to be involved in those conversations. But she’s also pragmatic and there will be much bigger things needing attention, at least to begin with.”

One person who saw Sue Gray in action in government, reckoned Gray will genuinely want to improve the ethics and standards regime in government — but that doing so won’t be top of her priorities. | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

“She’s in such a powerful position,” said Sue Hawley, director of campaign group Spotlight on Corruption. “She’ll be able to think of ways it can be done more effectively.”

Either way, rooting out corruption has a strange habit of slipping down the list of priorities when a new government — suddenly overwhelmed by domestic and international challenges — takes office.

A radical set of standards pledges set out by the center-left Liberal Democrats — traditionally Britain’s third party, which looks on course to increase its number of MPs this time around — gives campaigners some cause for optimism. Hawley argues that the expected influx of new Lib Dem MPs will create a “constructive” political environment to expand on Labour’s ideas and keep the new administration honest.

Whatever the makeup of the next parliament, Westminster’s corruption-watchers argue inaction is no longer an option.

“Those things need to be worked through carefully with the relevant expertise to inform them,” Bruce said. “But setting the ball rolling … within the first 100 days is the right thing to do.”

Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.