The credibility of British politicians plunged to a new low yesterday as allegations of “sleaze” brought down a former Labour government minister and forced the resignation of a close aide to David Cameron, the opposition Conservative leader.
The furore over financial abuses also spread to the House of Lords, where two members of the upper house are facing suspension for allegedly agreeing to take large sums of money to change laws.
Although the sums of money involved are relatively small by comparison with political scandals in some other countries, Westminster's claim to be the “mother of parliaments” has been badly tarnished by a week of media revelations.