Latest updates: chancellor makes implied rebuke to Boris Johnson in comments on Tory sleaze scandal
- Cox accrued at least £6m from second job while a parliamentarian
- £6m in 16 years: Geoffrey Cox’s outside earnings while sitting as MP
- Find out how much your MP earns on top of their salary
Good morning. The Tory sleaze news horror show shows no signs of abating, and there are two aspects to it that must be causing alarm in No 10. First, this isn’t just an obsession for papers on the left; papers on the right, that normally support the Conservatives, have embraced it with gusto. And, second, once a narrative like this gains traction (‘Tory MPs are on the take’, to put it bluntly), then it becomes open season for the media, with all sorts of stories that in the past might have been ignored suddenly getting scrutiny because they now qualify as newsworthy. This story has reached that point.
Today’s papers are still full of revelations about Sir Geoffrey Cox. The Guardian focuses on the £6m he has earned from his legal work, the Daily Mail has done a similar calculation, while the Daily Mirror has a go at him for claiming for accommodation in London while at the same time renting out a flat he owns in the capital. But it is not just Cox who is in the news. Other Conservatives facing uncomfortable questions about second jobs include Julian Smith, the former Northern Ireland secretary (in the Guardian), Mark Pawsey (in City AM), Philip Dunne, a former defence minister (in the Times), and Alun Cairns, the former Welsh secretary (in the Times). It is not anything like as dire as the 2009 MPs’ expenses scandal, but there are some parallels.
On the broader point and just reflecting over recent events, I think for us as a government, it’s fair to say that we need to do better than we did last week and we know that.
