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The hypocrisy & bad behaviour of MPs

Politicians make decisions that impact all our lives. However, they often do not think that these same rules that the rest of us need to live by apply to them.

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What they say and what they do are often very different. They also change their mind so often that we question whether they ever believe what they say. 

The 2019 intake of MPs was described as the "worst Parliament in history", with 24 MPs suspended as of December 2023.

 

Therefore it's little surprise that according to YouGov only 7% of Britons have a positive opinion of politics and a majority think politicians are more dishonest and corrupt than they were in the  past. 

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Perhaps it is helpful that the public assume politics is universally corrupt. If the bar is low, that gives politicians a lot of scope to do some pretty bad things before people start to care.

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However, cynicism towards conventional politics leads to serious problems in wider society. It creates division and a culture where extremism can flourish.

Lacking conviction and integrity. Constant u-turns

Is changing your mind a sign of maturity? Or a sign of a lack of integrity?

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There are many examples of politicians defending their party's decisions publicly, only to change course shortly after.

This was particularly apparent during the Covid pandemic, where there numerous u-turns ranging from if/when to lockdown, to whether to give free school meals to children. This article in the Guardian lists 35 u-turns Boris Johnson's government made between 2019-2021.

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In 2022, Liz Truss reversed her decision to do a huge tax giveaway to the rich just 3 weeks after announcing it. This was an attempt to keep her job as Prime Minister, which did not work.

 

Keir Starmer, Labour leader, has u-turned on almost every pledge that he has made in his quest to become Prime Minister. Politico has compiled a comprehensive list of the key u-turns. These have included: 

 

  • Scrapping pledge to abolish tuition fees if they got into power

  • Maintaining the two-child benefit cap policy brought in by the Tories, even though they said they would get rid of it 

  • Rolling back commitment to bring essential services such as water, rail and energy into public hands

  • Cancelling promise to invest £27 billion per year in green initiatives which would create jobs and reduce energy bills.

Hypocrisy

There are many examples of MPs being hypocrites, whether that’s double standards or supporting campaigns that contradict laws they have voted against.
 

In 2022, Michael Gove MP criticised the standard of many social housing accommodation across England. However, in 2016, he voted against making homes fit for human habitation, as did most other Conservative MPs 

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The video below shows disgraced former health secretary Matt Hancock praising Marcus Rashford's school dinner campaign despite voting against free school meals days earlier.

Former Conservative (defected to Labour) MP Natalie Elphicke, famously criticised Marcus Rashford for his school dinner campaign, telling him he should “stick to the day job”. It should come as no surprise that at the time she said that, she also had a second job

 

MPs who vote to deny children from poorer families free meals could be considered hypocritical, because MPs get fancy food and drink subsidised by the taxpayer.

On defending cutting universal credit, MP Andrew Rosindell said “there are people who quite like getting the extra £20, but maybe they don’t need it.” Then, when defending MPs second jobs (on top of their 80k salary), and the call to ban them, he says “we need to think carefully about their families”. 

MPs are also arguing that the demand from nurses for a pay that isn’t being cut year on year is greedy.

While Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak claimed to support the NHS but refused to confirm if he actually uses it. He does not think it is “appropriate” to ask if he used private healthcare. He has also justified being registered with a private GP, because the “NHS gets a lot of money”. 

Lying

Lying in Parliament is serious offence. If a Government Minister, including the Prime Minister, lies in Parliament knowingly, they are expected to resign. 

 

You can see a list of lies in articles on the BBC and the Boris Johnson's Lies blog. While Boris Johnson is well-known for his dishonesty,​

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also been criticised for the repeated lies he has told, both in his campaign to become Labour leader and during the general election.​​

MPs lying has been described as a "dishonesty epidemic".  One of the most blatant and often repeated lies of the former Conservative government was their pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, which was false. It was often repeated in TV and not corrected. According to a report by The Observer, NHS bosses say there is 0% chance this will happen. As of 2023, only 10 of these hospitals had planning permission.   

Tax-payer funded piggy bank

Conservative MPs claimed almost £3m in housing rent on expenses, while renting out the houses that they own. This was the backdrop to them at the same time cutting housing benefit for the poorest. Not only is this shocking behaviour, but one could only imagine the condemnation if someone in social housing was doing something similar. 

 

Daniel Kawczynski MP had to defend claiming £22,000 for Polish lessons on expenses, despite apparently being fluent. 

 

Liz Truss, while foreign secretary, enjoyed lavish dinners costing thousands of pounds per day (one for £3,000 and another for £1400, for example) as taxpayers’ expense. These are often, conveniently, in private members’ clubs where the owners generously donate to the Tory party. 

Breaking the law

Politicians often like to claim to the establishment that they are tough on crime. Not only is this unfair because the "criminals" they refer to are teenagers on street corners, and not the tax dodgers or shady super-rich who steal from the taxpayer. 

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Being "tough on crime" also makes them huge hypocrites. As they've often admitted to breaking the law themsleves. Why is it ok for them, but not everyone else?

Drug Use

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Many politicians including Michael Gove and Keir Starmer, have admitted, or at least alluded to, using drugs. Westminster toilets have been found to have significant traces of cocaine. 

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This seems hypocritical that politicians want to introduce even more punitive laws for drug users. 

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Sexual Misconduct

 

As of April 2022, 56 MPs are under investigation for sexual harassment. Between 2019 and 2024, eight Conservative MPs were suspended by their party due to sexual misconduct allegations. 

 

Prominent examples are:

 

 

There are also a rumour of a “whisper network” in Parliament. There are reports of a spreadsheet with details up to 40 MPs should be avoided because they are seedy and untrustworthy. Many featured on this list are still prominent politicians today.

 

It is hard to you imagine any other work place with such a high ratio of sex pests being considered normal.

 

Breaking COVID Rules 

 

Most people will be aware of the disregard of the law by the Government during the coronavirus pandemic. But here is a summary of some of the things they got up to when the rest of us were following the rules: 

 

  • Boris Johnson's advisor Dominic Cummings drove to “Barnard Castle for an eye test” from London when he had Covid.  Johnson defended Cummings who was allowed to keep his job.

  • Matt Hancock, former health secretary, had an affair with an aide, therefore breaching the COVID rules he set out. He only apologised/resigned when he got caught

  • The pilot scheme where prominent cabinet members did not have to self isolate but test instead. These were apparently random but nobody else outside the Government seemed to be offered the same.

  • Tories exempting themselves from wearing masks because they know each other

  • Holding Christmas parties in Downing Street in 2020, when the rest of us were in lockdown.

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The company they keep

We’ll see there is a revolving door, a lot of friendships between politicians, corporate leaders and people within the media. 

 

One of the most scandalous relationships that keeps emerging are Government ministers who are friends with those that deliberately make money from the country’s misfortunes- mainly through betting against, or “shorting” the Great British Pounds. For example:

 

Unfit to govern

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The bullying culture within politics

The UK Parliament is dominated by two parties, within which the worst and most callous are often celebrated and promoted. These parties either attract a high percentage of awful people, or the political system turns them into awful people.

 

There have been many allegations of politicians bullying colleges. For example, Dominic Raab, Gavin Williamson in the Conservatives, as well as Grant Shapps who knew about bullying and didn't act. From Labour, Christina Rees and Liam Byrne were found to have bullied colleagues. 

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The former Home Secretary, Priti Patel was actually found guilty of bullying a staff member following an investigation. This breaches  the set of standards expected of Government members called the Ministerial Code.  If you break the ministerial code, you are expected to resign. However, she refused, and got the full backing of the Prime Minster Boris Johnson. He overrode the decision of the investigation and decided Priti Patel wasn't a bully, which is an unprecedented move, and begs the question why he would order an investigation only to ignore the findings.  

 

There are many people who do want to change the world for the better for the majority of us and bullies or sex offenders. Why not have a system where we can elect them instead?

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