As Britain’s Conservatives fight to avoid an electoral catastrophe, for many wavering voters the escalating scandal over election betting will be a final straw. Four Conservatives including aides to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — two of them election candidates — are known to be under investigation by the Gambling Commission over allegedly placing bets on the timing of the general election. The regulator is reportedly looking into more. Many members of the public will see this as yet another example of the erosion of trust in political ethics under successive UK governments — especially those of recent years.
Days before the betting affair erupted, a survey found public trust in government at a record low. The National Centre for Social Research found 45 per cent of people would “almost never” trust administrations of any hue to put the nation’s interest before their party’s. Some 58 per cent would “almost never” trust politicians to tell the truth in a tight corner.
Some caveats are needed. Many of those who go into politics today are still motivated by a commitment to service, and UK politics remains much less corrupt than that of many peer countries — which are also experiencing sharp declines in trust in political “elites”. Despite recent impressions, moreover, questions over ethics stretch back decades, and are not confined either to the Conservatives or to Westminster.