Parliamentary and unparliamentary conduct

The purported grownups are back in charge but we have much the same standards of chaos and scandal - what is going on?

It was always a mystery to me how anyone could be so daft as to say it, but you might remember when we were told we could relax because the grownups were back in charge...

Oh no. Not again.

Since then, we have had scandal after scandal. It’s the same-old same old: human frailty on parade. Why?

Politicians are a peculiar tribe. They live on adrenaline with never enough time. They operate under intense and constant surveillance – the lights and lenses of public scrutiny – but behave as if in a private club, sometimes drinking, sometimes forgetting the world is watching...

MPs’ conduct, inside and outside the House of Commons, reveals much about human nature, the structures of power, and the incentives that quietly shape public life.

Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) is the most vivid manifestation of political theatre. Ostensibly an occasion to hold the government to account, it degenerates into raucous jousting – part performance, part pantomime. The chamber fills with jeers, applause and witty remarks designed for entertainment in the news cycle not thoughtful scrutiny.

Often, the urge to command attention and imperative to influence opinion outweigh the need for technical accuracy and scholarship. For example, to illustrate the inadequacy of then Prime Minister David Cameron’s EU renegotiation, I accused the minister at the despatch box of “polishing poo” instead of yet again banging on about the continued jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU.