COMMENTS DAILY MAIL: Government is more like a circus act

What is the parliamentary Conservative party trying to do to itself?

With a majority of nearly 80 seats, Brexit done and Covid under control, it has a golden opportunity to build a fairer, more dynamic and prosperous Britain.

Instead, bitter feuds and a creeping epidemic of sleaze seem to push the party toward self-destruction. It just begs for faith.

In constituencies across this country, thousands of Tory officials and volunteers work tirelessly to elect and support their local MP.

They roam the streets, knocking on doors, filling envelopes and raising money. Given the recent behavior of their representatives at Westminster, they really have to wonder why they bother.

Today, every Tory MP needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and honestly ask themselves if they’re worth that dedication.

The Conservatives, of course, do not have a monopoly on unacceptable behavior. Countless Labor MPs have fallen just as dizzyingly out of favor in recent times – some even more so.

But the Tories are in government. They should lead by example, but we have now had five cases of abusive sexual misconduct within three months. We do not have full details of the most recent alleged incident, which is now under investigation. But the little we do know is clearly out of the limelight.

Deputy head whip Chris Pincher (ironically a man charged with maintaining party discipline) has admitted to being roaring drunk at the Carlton Club – the high Tory equivalent of a cathedral. Rather than stumble home to sleep it off, he allegedly groped two men and made lewd suggestions—apparently in front of witnesses.

The alleged misconduct itself is contemplative enough, but we also now know that he was a serial offender. Before he was promoted to the whips office, there had been serious complaints of impropriety against him. But somehow I managed to get through both Downing Street and the Cabinet Office investigation. How is that possible? Is someone in control?

Number 10 tried to dampen the criticism by suggesting that Boris Johnson was unaware of Pincher’s creepy tendencies when promoting him.

But since every dog ​​on the street seems to have known it — in Westminster and beyond — that claim stretched its credibility to the extreme. And if he didn’t know, why not?

Mr Pincher has now stopped and withdrawn the whip, but it doesn’t stop there. This whole sad affair needs to be exposed to the disinfectant of sunlight before it gets even more toxic.

We are already beginning to experience the familiar fin de siècle feeling of John Major’s final years in power. Critical mass has not yet been reached. But it’s dangerously close.

However, Mr Johnson has one ace in the hole. Major’s opponent in 1997 was Tony Blair, a formidable campaigner with a seductive centrist agenda. Boris is fortunate to have the wooden Sir Keir Starmer and a shadow cabinet of little discernible talent.

Voters also know that electing Sir Keir in an election would create a rickety alliance of Labour, Lib Dems, Scots Nats, Greens and anyone else they could scrape together to form an overall majority.

The result could be the breakup of the UK and proportional representation, leaving this country in the political quagmire of a permanent coalition.

To avoid that catastrophe between now and 2024, the Tories must provide a credible alternative. For that to happen, the parliamentary party must grow up, park its internal differences and start acting like a government rather than a circus act.

If it can rediscover its discipline and purpose in the next two years, all is not lost. At the moment the omens are not good.