From the original raid through to the attempt by former officers to bring down a Government minister on moralising grounds, this is an unedifying picture.
The Defence Secretary made the remark in his first Commons outing in his new role.
“I’ve never voted against my Party in my life. We’re going through a normal part of the Bill process… I have strongly held views on certain things.”
The guts of this Bill is about converting EU law, as it applies in the UK, into statute law as neatly as possible, creating the minimum of disruption. That is all.
In the best of all worlds, standards would be upheld voluntarily. But in the world we have, we seem to need rules – and sometimes to extend them.
Plus: How many letters has Brady had? The tragedy of the death of Carl Sargeant. And: introducing my new podcast with Jacqui Smith.
This means not bullying people into voting for the Government, and not making grown men and women cry.
“This is about fundamental change in the way power and authority is exercised. We will be making changes, and we want other people to make them to.”
Most Tory MPs are male. Some don’t want a new complaints procedure – let alone two. Many feel vulnerable. This initiative brings new perils for the Prime Minister.
Plus: What it was like being gay and a Tory – and being sexually assaulted in the “Brief Encounter” – during the vanished world of the 1990s.
If a Minister is guilty of bullying, harrassment or abuse, he should go. But behaviour that falls short of these should not require resignation.
The Prime Minister has floated what the Speaker has called “a corporate scheme”. He and the Commons Commission must make it happen – fast.
There are slender means for discussion, coaching and mentoring us about the particular dangers and pressures of public life.
Given its majority and manifesto, the Government cannot take on both delivering Brexit and quitting the court. But it must stand fast against the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Parliament is not, should not be and probably cannot be a faithful reflection of the flux that confuses us in daily life.