THE RETURN OF THE SLEAZY PARTY

A Conservative MP who entered the UK parliament in 2010 began to receive what he described as a series of “unusually persistent” texts from his Tory whip last week. The member in question had been part of the Conservative intake that followed the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009.

The arrival of this new group at Westminster – many of them with impressive previous careers outside politics – was supposed to demonstrate, as David Cameron said at the time, that the party was reforming its ways, ridding itself of sleaze.

By Sunday, the MP in question says the texts became phone calls and the level of pressure he was being placed under was becoming uncomfortable. In parliament last week he was pulled aside, to have his arms twisted in a way he had not experienced before.

But it was not the pressure that concerned him