The fallout from the Owen Paterson row has continued after Boris Johnson’s U-turn that saw veteran Tory MP Owen Paterson resign from parliament after Downing Street ditched a bid to shield him from lobbying claims.
The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said the government cannot be complacent in the face of perceptions of sleaze.
Asked on LBC about opinion polling following the Owen Paterson row, Nadhim Zahawi said: “I take from it that we can’t be complacent, that it was right to come back to parliament and say we made a mistake.
“I think actually people, listeners, participants in polls, will understand that it is only human when you know you’ve made a mistake to come back and say we made a mistake and we’re going to correct it.
“And that we want a fairer system of appeals. They know that because it’s right in other walks of life and other sectors of the economy.
“So I think it’s the right thing to do, and of course, the really important poll would be the general election.”
Sir David Lidington, former leader of the House of Commons, said the Owen Paterson row has damaged politicians’ reputations. “Clearly there was a pretty appalling set of misjudgments involved,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“The reputation of the House of Commons as an institution and MPs of all parties will have been damaged by the events of the last 24 hours.”
The former Conservative MP also said the affair has “weakened the government”, making it harder for Boris Johnson to win support from backbench MPs on potentially unpopular measures in the future.
“If you ask your troops to march through the lobby on something like this and which they don’t think is right and then you U-turn on it, it’s going to be more difficult next time around,” he said.
