Partying in Downing Street while the rest of us were locked down, being sacked for serious breaches of the ministerial code over personal tax affairs, bullying colleagues and watching porn involving tractors while sitting in the House of Commons. It's a humiliating, scandalous roll call — and that's before you even get to causing an economic disaster with your own incompetence.
The list of allegations of sleaze and mismanagement levelled at the Conservative party in just the last three years is a long one. In an era of fast-moving news cycles, it's easy to forget, or simply switch off from, the frequency of yet another political scandal, the latest of which involves the sacking of the Tory party chairman, Nadhim Zahawi, after he was found to have breached the ministerial code for failing to disclose he was investigated by HMRC for his tax affairs while he served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Here are the others:
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1. 'I drank far too much' and 'embarrassed myself and other people'
In July 2022, one of Boris Johnson's closest allies, Chris Pincher, resigned as deputy chief whip and was later suspended as a Conservative MP after allegations that he groped two men at a private members' club. In his resignation letter, he told the then-Prime Minister he "drank far too much" and "embarrassed myself and other people". It become apparent, however, that allegations had been made against Pincher before he was appointed as deputy chief whip. The UK Government initially denied that the PM at the time, Boris Johnson, was aware of any similar allegations that had been made against Pincher prior to his appointment as deputy chief whip but later acknowledged that, in fact, he had been.
2. Tractorgate
In April 2022, the Conservative Party launched a formal investigation after reports an MP watched porn on his mobile phone while sitting in the Commons chamber. A group of around 12 female Tory MPs, including former PM Theresa May, made the formal complaint to chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris. The Tory politician in question was later identified as Neil Parish - the MP for Tiverton and Honiton. The MP admitted to twice watching pornography in Parliament, saying he first accidentally viewed it after looking at tractors online before then acting deliberately the second time, which he described as a "moment of madness".
3. Owen Paterson
Back in November 2021, a report found that Owen Paterson, the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the MP for North Shropshire, had broken lobbying rules for Members of Parliament. Paterson had been working as a paid consultant for Radnox Laboratories and Lynn's Country Foods. His work was not against the rules and he declared his positions in the public register of interests. However, the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards found that, on behalf of these companies, Paterson approached and met with officials at the Food Standards Agency and ministers at the Department for International Development on multiple occasions. The commissioner's report also found that he had used his parliamentary office and stationery for his consultancy work and then failed to declare his interests in some meetings. The commissioner decided that the contact with officials and ministers were "serious breaches" of the rules, as MPs are forbidden from taking money to raise issues in the House of Commons or with the government.
4. David Cameron and Greensill Capital
When David Cameron left office in 2016, he began working as an adviser at Greensill Capital - a firm that specialised in supply-chain finances. Cameron was offered a share in the company that was said to be worth tens of millions of pounds. In 2020, Cameron lobbied the UK Government on behalf of the company to join a scheme called Covid corporate financing facility (CCFF). It is said that he sent multiple texts to the chancellor at the time, Rishi Sunak, as well as informally calling two other Treasury ministers. The scheme would have allowed Greensill Capital to issue loans insured by the government to help firms during the coronavirus pandemic. However, both David Cameron and the company's founder, Australian financier Lex Greensill, were unsuccessful in their campaign.
Cameron was accused of exploiting private contracts with former government colleagues for his own benefit. A report in July 2021 by the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee found that although no lobbying rules had been broken, Cameron's actions showed there was a "good case for strengthening them". According to a report by BBC Panorama, the former prime minister made about £3.3m from shares in the now collapsed Greensill Capital.
5. Partygate
The scandal began with a leaked videotape of a mock press conference in December 2020, in which former political aide Allegra Stratton made remarks that a secret Christmas party had taken place at 10 Downing Street while the UK was in lockdown. It become apparent however that multiple Downing Street parties had taken place, including a surprise gathering for Boris Johnson's 56th birthday in July 2020 and two leaving dos on the night before the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in September 2022. A report by Sue Gray found that there had been 15 events on 12 dates between May 2020 and April 2021, all of which involved people gathering during tight Covid restrictions. Boris Johnson had attended eight of these, the report found.
6. The 'unusually difficult' task of finding facts on Boris Johnson's Mustique holiday
Questions began to arise after prime minister Boris Johnson took a luxury holiday in the Caribbean with his then-girlfriend Carrie Symonds in December 2019. Johnson claimed that the holiday had been paid for by his close friend, David Ross, the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse. However, although Mr Ross said he had helped to organise the trip, he did not "pay any moneys whatsoever". MPs eventually cleared Johnson of breaching parliamentary rules, but the standard watchdog said it had been "unusually difficult to find facts during this lengthy investigation".
7. The £800,000 loan from the government's choice as new BBC chair
Recent reports suggest that Boris Johnson secured a £800,000 loan while in office thanks to the aid of former banker Richard Sharp in 2020. In late December, the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team wrote a formal letter telling Johnson to stop seeking Sharp's advice about his personal finances as the appointment of a new BBC chair was set to take place. But by then, Johnson had already selected Sharp as his preferred candidate for the role. In January, it was announced that Sharp was the government's choice and was appointed as the new chair of the BBC.
8. The £840-a-roll wallpaper for the Downing Street flat
In 2021, Boris Johnson faced criticism after it became apparent that he and his partner Carrie Symonds had reportedly spent thousands of pounds on renovating their No 11 Downing Street flat, including £840-a-roll gold wallpaper. Johnson spent much of April that year entangled in sleaze allegations over questions on who precisely paid for the £88,000 refurbishment. Johnson repeatedly denied that any wrongdoing took place in the matter.
9. The peerage to Evgeny Lebedev
In 2021, Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a Russian oligarch and a former KGB officer, was nominated for a life peerage by Boris Johnson. In a report by The Sunday Times however, it is said that the British security service warned that granting Lebedev a peerage would be a national security risk, but Johnson went ahead with his decision.
10. Allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use
In April 2022, David Warburton, MP for for Somerton and Frome, was suspended from the party after a series of allegations relating to sexual harassment and cocaine use. It was reported that two women made formal complaints to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme about the former Conservative whip’s behaviour and that a third woman also made allegations about his conduct. A photo, published by The Sunday Times, also emerged of the MP allegedly sitting alongside lines of cocaine. In November, he failed to declare a £150,000 loan from a Russian-born businessman. Warburton has stood as an independent since he was suspended.
11. Secret Hampers from a sultan
In May 2021, the then prime minister Boris Johnson had silk ties and other lavish goods such as luxury food hampers from the Sultan of Brunei, which he had received as gifts, confiscated by Cabinet Office as they would have broken corruption rules in the ministerial code.
12. Boris Johnson's £150,000 treehouse
While still in office, Boris Johnson wanted to build a £150,000 treehouse for his son at Chequers. However, the former prime minister was stopped when the police raised safety concerns.
13. Nadhim Zahawi's tax affairs
Nadim Zahawi has been sacked as Conservative Party chair after an enquiry by Rishi Sunak's ethic adviser found that he had breached the ministerial code by failing to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs. It's understood that Zahawi paid HMRC around £5m in total, including a penalty. At the time of payment he was chancellor and therefore responsible for the UK's tax system.
14. Gavin Williamson and allegations of bullying
In November 2022, Sir Gavin Williamson resigned as a minister after allegations of bullying. The MP was accused of sending abusive messages to a fellow Tory MP and for bullying a civil servant while he worked as the defence secretary. Williamson said that he aimed to clear himself of "any wrongdoings".
15. Imran Ahmad Khan's conviction for sexual assault
The former politician was the Tory MP for Wakefield until 2022. He had the party whip withdrawn in 2021 and was subsequently expelled from the party after he was charged with having sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy in 2008. He denied the allegation, but was convicted of sexual assault in April 2022.
16. Dominic Raab and allegations of bullying
The deputy prime minister is facing at least 24 formal complaints by civil servants in relation to bullying, according to recent reports. In December of last year, it was confirmed that Raab was facing eight complaints over alleged bullying, but sources now claim there could be at least two dozen complaints made against him.
17. Priti Patel and allegations of bullying
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel was accused of bullying staff in several government departments, including in the Home Office., where she was accused of swearing and shouting at staff. Her former permanent secretary, Phillip Rutman, also alleged that she subjected him to a "vicious and orchestrated campaign" after he raised concerns about the treatment of civil servants. Boris Johnson decided to support Patel despite the findings of his then adviser declaring that she had in fact broken the ministerial code. The FDA trade union then brought forward a judicial review to look into the prime minister's decision, but the High Court eventually ruled against the union.
18. Rishi Sunak's wife non-domicile status
In April 2022, it emerged that Rishi Sunak's wife, Akshata Murty, claimed non-domicile status which meant that she could save millions of pounds in taxes on dividends collected from her family's IT business empire. Non-domicile or 'non-dom' means the individual only pays UK tax on money earned in the UK but does not have to pay any tax to the UK on money made elsewhere in the world, unless they pay that money into a UK bank account. Akshata Murty made £11.5m in annual dividends from her stake in the Indian IT services company, Infosys. She later said that she would start paying UK tax on her earnings from outside the UK.
19. Boris Johnson's resignation honours list
In his resignation honours list, Boris Johnson included the former editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, on his list despite the fact that Dacre had been blocked by the House of Lords Appointment Commission on a previous list.
20. Suella Braverman and her use of personal emails
In October of last year, Home Secretary Suella Braverman was forced to resign after she sent official documents from her personal email to a fellow MP, which is a serious breach of the ministerial code. Her departure was a serious blow to the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss, who handed in her resignation not long after. Braverman was reinstated to the position six days later by Truss' successor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
21. Covid PPE deals to Tory peers
There have been multiple stories of Tory politicians facilitating access to a 'VIP lane' for PPE contracts during the Covid pandemic. The most recent one involves Tory peer and businesswoman Michelle Mone. The Guardian reports that Mone and her children received £29m from profits of a PPE business that was awarded large contracts after she recommended the business to ministers. According to The Guardian, Lady Mone's support helped the company, PPE Medpro, secure a place in a 'VIP lane' the government used during the coronavirus pandemic, which prioritised companies that had political connections. It then secured contracts worth more than £200m.
22. Matt Hancock's lockdown affair
Matt Hancock was the UK government's health secretary and responsible for setting Covid rules when he broke social distancing guidelines by having an affair with an aide. At the time the UK government was recommending that people stay two metres apart, Hancock was pictured kissing an aide inside the Department for Health.
And let's not forget... the mini-budget that broke Britain
Rarely has a budget caused such economic and political damage as that cooked up and unleashed on the people of Britain by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng in 2022. It triggered a domestic financial crisis, led to higher mortgage costs for millions of people and led pretty quickly to the downfall of Truss as Prime Minister, a role she had barely started.
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