It’s not been a good few days for the Tories, constantly hitting the headlines but not in a good way. From allegations of tax irregularities to seatbelts to possible bullying and corruption, can it possibly get worse?
Rishi Sunak MP and Prime Minister
For the second time in history a serving Prime Minister has been fined. The first was Boris Johnson, and the second, Rishi Sunak, who received a fixed penalty notice for not wearing a seat belt. He was filming a promotional video at the time. Definitely a PR blunder at best.
Moving on from the fine was the handing out of levelling-up funding this week. The Guardian reported that its analysis showed:
“Tory seats have been awarded significantly more money per person from the government’s £4bn levelling up fund than areas with similar levels of deprivation.”
And North East MP, Alex Cunningham had this to say:
“The whole thing stinks. The Tories like to talk a good talk on levelling up, but this and the fact the North East as a whole received £108 million compared to £210 million for the South East – is yet more proof that levelling up is a sham.”
Nadhim Zahawi MP
This week Nadhim Zahawi was in the spotlight over alleged tax irregularities. He issued a statement on Saturday 21 January confirming that he made a careless but not deliberate error on his tax return. Whilst this was an attempt to draw a line under his tax affairs, it may well have left unanswered questions. His statement does not confirm if he paid a penalty of an estimated £1mn to HMRC.
Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds said that it was a “carefully worded statement”, and the Labour Party has called on Zahawi to publish all related correspondence with HMRC.
Dodds added: “In the middle of the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation, the public will rightly be astonished that anyone could claim that failing to pay millions of pounds’ worth of tax is a simple matter of ‘carelessness’.”
Gavin Williamson MP
The former education minister has been mired in allegations of bullying for some time. The Independent reports that that two separate investigations are underway and if found guilty he is at risk of losing his knighthood.
Dominic Raab MP
The Deputy Prime Minister is subject to eight allegations of bullying. There is now an ongoing independent investigation, led by Adam Tolley KC. It will be several months before this investigation reports its findings.
Lee Anderson MP
This week Anderson issued a challenge to a boxing match to anti-Brexit campaigner, Steve Bray. There are just no words.
We demand better and are right to expect higher standards in our government.
The constant occurrences of sleaze lead to only one conclusion: we need rid of this morally corrupt political party and the sooner the better.
