Tory sleaze could bring down Boris Johnson's Government like it did John Major's in 1997 - Andrew Vine

Even during the 1990s, when the reputation of John Major’s government had been shredded by sexual and financial wrongdoing amongst his MPs, it was never this bad.

The furore over Tamworth MP Chris Pincher after he admitted getting drunk and was then accused of groping two men is just the latest in a lengthening catalogue of shame that rightly disgusts voters. It is a grisly parade, headed by former Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Not far behind is the former Dover MP, Charlie Elphicke, jailed in 2020 for three offences of sexual assault. An unnamed MP in his 50s is currently under police investigation for alleged rape.

Then there are those who have been stripped of the Tory whip, as Pincher has.

Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton lost it after being accused of inappropriate behaviour by three women. Delyn MP Rob Roberts had it withdrawn after a watchdog found he made repeated and unwanted sexual advances to another man.

And, of course, there was Neil Parish, the former MP for Tiverton, who resigned after he was seen watching pornography on his phone in the Commons.

Nor must we forget that there are currently 56 MPs under investigation by the Parliamentary authorities over inappropriate behaviour.

That is not far short of one in 10 of all MPs. While it is likely that the alleged offenders will be spread across the political parties, the names of any Conservatives that emerge will only damage the party’s reputation still further. The sense that the party is home to some MPs who feel they have a licence to behave exactly as they please – up to and including the point of criminality – is only reinforced by the man who leads it.

Boris Johnson is the only serving Prime Minister to be issued with a criminal penalty, over breaking lockdown rules in Downing Street.

There is an echo of his bluster over that in the Pincher affair. When challenged about parties, the Prime Minister ducked and dived over what he did and did not know was going on under his own roof.

And on Pincher, there is evasion from number 10 over whether Mr Johnson knew of previous allegations against the MP when he was appointed to the whips’ office. It all contributes to a nasty smell of something fundamentally rotten at the heart of the party, which disturbs and angers decent grassroots Conservative members I know, and will surely infuriate MPs who would never dream of behaving inappropriately.

But for all those constituency party members, and the MPs who abhor the antics of some of those around them, there is an increasingly urgent question. What are they going to do about it?

They need to do something, because their party is hurtling towards being dumped out of office at the next general election. Public disenchantment – and downright distrust – of the Prime

Minister is part of that, but so, increasingly, is the sense that too many Conservative MPs aren’t fit to be anywhere near public office. There is a lot of whingeing about MPs drinking too much and going off the rails because of long hours, stress and being isolated from their families.

Rubbish. That doesn’t cut any ice with voters, and nor should it. I know any number of people who do extremely stressful jobs over long hours – among them paramedics, police officers and child protection staff. None of them resort to getting hopelessly drunk in order to cope.

What’s clear is that in some cases, the selection procedures for prospective candidates are failing to weed out those with some particularly unpleasant character traits or problems with drink.

Honest MPs and party members dismayed by what is going on should address that, even if it makes for uncomfortable and even hostile interviews.

And whatever the political difficulties, the party should find the moral fibre to pressure wrongdoers to quit as MPs.

Voters who elect MPs rightly expect that they reflect their constituents’ values and standards of behaviour, and not behave in a manner that would see them summarily sacked from any other workplace in the land.

Seedy sexual scandal and sleaze played a key role in Britain rejecting the Conservatives in 1997. It feels very much as if history will repeat itself unless the best people that the party has find the determination to rid it of the worst.