‘Dishonesty epidemic infecting Tories’: Conference sparks fresh calls for rules to stop MPs lying
There are fresh calls to clean up politics with stronger rules around lying after senior Tories made false statements around meat taxes and 15-minute cities at their annual party conference.
Green MP Caroline Lucas told Sky News a “dishonesty epidemic is infecting the Tory party” as she called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to acquaint himself with the Nolan Principles of public life – which include that holders of public office tell the truth.
These are not legally binding, but some MPs and academics believe they should be amid a collapse in public trust in UK politicians.
The debate has been reignited after a fractious Conservative Party Conference which, aside from the HS2 fiasco, has been dominated by accusations of MPs lying and peddling conspiracy theories.
Critics point to Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho claiming in a speech that Labour is “relaxed about taxing meat” – something which is not Labour Party policy.
Meanwhile Transport Secretary Mark Harper, in an attack on 15-minute cities, said we should not tolerate “the idea that local councils decide how often you go to the shops” – echoing a conspiracy theory about the planning concept that the government has previously debunked.
The independent charity Full Fact also raised concern about Mr Sunak describing inflation as a tax, saying that is “clearly not technically true”.
Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has also been accused of “making things up” after pledging to “kick woke ideology out of science” while Susan Hall, the Tory mayoral candidate for London, faced criticism for suggesting the Jewish community is scared of Sadiq Khan – a claim Jewish groups have strongly disputed.
It follows a speech Mr Sunak gave on net zero last month in which he claimed to have “scrapped” measures which were never government policy, such as a tax on flying and households being required to own seven bins.
‘Dishonesty epidemic’
Ms Lucas told Sky News: “A dishonesty epidemic is infecting the Tory party. Our political leaders’ socially-distanced relationship with the truth clearly didn’t end with Johnson’s ousting from office – over the past few weeks we’ve seen an escalation of fabrications, falsehoods and downright lies from Rishi Sunak’s government.
“If the prime minister isn’t acquainted with the seven Nolan Principles of public life – including that holders of public office should be truthful – then he shouldn’t be in public life at all.”
Ms Lucas is one of several MPs that supports a bill that would make it a criminal offence for politicians to deliberately lie. Polling by the cross-party group Compassion in Politics, which has drafted the legislation, shows three quarters of the public support the measure.
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Jennifer Nadel, co-director of Compassion in Politics said: “The last few days in Manchester really have put the con in conference.
“Rather than focusing on the major issues of the day – falling living standards, climate change, and crumbling schools – or giving a straight answer on the future of HS2, many Conservative MPs have tried to deflect attention by spreading lies and misinformation. It’s doing a huge disservice to the public and to the members of their own party who are tainted by association.”
‘No rules to prevent lying’
Ms Nadel said that “lying persists because we have no rules to prevent it” and “this has to change”.
She said their bill, if adopted, would bring politics into line with many other professions “which prohibit lying and deception”.
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who is the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Compassionate Politics, has also proposed a bill that would put the Ministerial Code on a statutory footing, making lying to the House of Commons a sackable offence.
She told Sky News: “Honesty and integrity should be the cornerstones of our politics but sadly they have been lacking at this week’s Conservative Party Conference.
“Genuine political disagreements are fair game but it is disappointing that the Tories are so devoid of ideas that they have resorted to making things up.”
Tory conference claims fact-checked
In her speech at the conference on Monday, Ms Coutinho said: “It’s no wonder that Labour seem so relaxed about taxing meat, Sir Keir Starmer doesn’t eat it, and Ed Miliband is clearly scarred by his encounter with a bacon sandwich.”
However, taxing meat is not Labour policy and the idea was rejected by Mr Miliband in 2021.
Ms Coutinho was repeatedly pressed about her comments on the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge but was unable to provide any specific evidence or expand upon it, calling it a “light-hearted moment” then going onto talk about the ULEZ charge.
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‘That’s not a meat tax though, is it?’
Commenting on a clip of the exchange on X, former MEP and Conservative politician Charles Tannock said: “Make the Nolan principles statutory and restore public shame on those Ministers who deliberately deceive and lie to the public, otherwise the future and integrity of our precious democracy is in jeopardy.”
The Tories have also been called out over Mr Harper’s 15-minute city comments – including by Carlos Moreno, the academic who invented the concept.
The idea behind them is that everyone in cities should be a 15 minute walk or cycle away from basic amenities, but on Monday Mr Harper claimed they are being “misused” to restrict when people can go the shops and ration who uses roads.
However as pointed out by the charity Full Fact, there is no evidence that councils are attempting to place restrictions on how often residents can go to the shops, or their ability to choose which services they can access – something energy minister Andrew Bowie also suggested when asked about Mr Harper’s comments on BBC Radio Four.
The charity have rebuffed other claims made this week, including Mr Sunak saying in his speech on Wednesday that Labour’s immigration plan would lead to 100,000 asylum-seekers coming to the UK, which they said was an unreliable Conservative Party estimate.
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Steve Nowottny, editor at Full Fact, said this year has seen a “worrying trend” emerge across the political divide, with politicians making policies without putting them into context or supporting them with evidence.
“Trust in politics has been consistently low, and it is deeply disappointing when politicians of any party do not hold themselves to the highest possible standards of accuracy and fairness, as voters rightly expect them to ahead of the next general election,” he said.
Tories ‘party of fact’ insists minister
Last night, Science Secretary Ms Donelan insisted the Conservatives are “the party of fact” when a compilation of outlandish statements made by her colleagues was put to her on BBC Newsnight.
Presenter Victoria Derbyshire said: “There was never a proposal to use seven bins. We can’t find any council that wants to decide how often people can go to shops and Labour have never proposed taxing meat. They are untruths, they are fiction, they are completely and utterly made up and it’s really disrespectful to voters.”
But Ms Donelan said: “I genuinely believe we are the party of facts and evidence.”
UK
Police investigating alleged attack on prison officer by Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana
Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.
Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.
It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help.
Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.
“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.
She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.
“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.
“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’
“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”
Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.
Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.
Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.
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Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.
It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.
According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.
Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to seek help
Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.
In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.
“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.
“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”
Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS
In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.
“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.
“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.
“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”
Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS
Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.
“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”
Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.
“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”
Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS
“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”
Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.
Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.
Bleeding in Kerry’s eye
“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.
“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”
The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.
Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.
Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.
“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.
“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”
Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.
He will be sentenced in July.
If you suspect you are being abused and need to speak to someone, there are people who can help you.
The National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Respect, the helpline for male domestic abuse victims: 0808 8010327
Galop, the LGBT+ anti-violence charity: 0800 999 5428
Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that stood for more than 150 years.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted of causing more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
On 27 September 2023, the pair drove 30 miles through a storm to Northumberland from Cumbria, where they both lived, before felling the tree overnight in a matter of minutes.
The Sycamore Gap tree before it was cut down. Pic: CPS
The pair each denied two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it, but were convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.
The Sycamore Gap tree sat in a dip in the landscape and held a place in pop culture, featuring in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.
Footage of the moment the tree was felled was played during the trial.
Daniel Graham. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
Adam Carruthers. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
In the clip, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard, and the silhouette of a person can be seen, before the trunk eventually tumbled.
The footage was shot on Graham’s iPhone 13, with the metadata providing the coordinates of the tree.
Part of tree kept as ‘trophy’
Over the course of the trial, the pair blamed one another, but the prosecution argued they were both responsible for what the court heard was a “mindless act of vandalism”.
As well as the video footage of the felling, an image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone.
Adam Carruthers (R) and Daniel Graham (L) worked together felling trees. Pic: CPS/PA
An image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone. Pic: PA
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”
Voice notes played in court
The jury was also played voice notes the pair had sent one another, commenting on the media coverage the incident was receiving.
In one of them, Graham, 39, said to 32-year-old Carruthers: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like News News News”, before adding: “I think it’s going to go wild.”
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Sycamore Gap seeds saved
Another piece of evidence was a photo of the defendants felling a different tree, about a month before the Sycamore Gap was cut down.
The prosecution said Graham, who owned a groundworks company and Carruthers, who worked in property management and mechanics, were “friends with knowledge and experience in chainsaws and tree felling”.
From the beginning, much of the trial focused on the significance of the tree, with Judge Mrs Justice Lambert telling the jury to put their “emotion to one side” before proceedings began.
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Voicenotes from Sycamore Gap tree trial
‘Mindless acts of violence’
Northumberland Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police, said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals”.
Graham and Carruthers gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, he said, “and there never could be a justifiable one”.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, called the felling of the tree “unfathomable” and said, although “there was no remorse [from the defendants], there was compelling evidence, and now there will be justice”.
Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said Graham and Carruthers took “under three minutes” to bring down the “iconic landmark” in a “deliberate and mindless act of destruction”.
She said she hoped the community “can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted”.
‘Enormity of the loss’
Reflecting on the verdict and the actions of the pair, Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Parks Authority, said: “It just took a few days to sink in – I think because of the enormity of the loss.
“We knew how important that location was for many people at an emotional level, almost at a spiritual level in terms of people’s connection to this case.”
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Moment Sycamore Gap tree cut down
Read more from the trial:
Two men went on ‘moronic mission’ to fell Sycamore Gap tree
Man told police he was being ‘framed’ over tree felling
Defendant says friend wanted to cut down world’s ‘most famous tree’
Jurors played voicenotes in Sycamore Gap tree trial
The tree’s stump still sits by Hadrian’s Wall, where new shoots have been emerging.
Its largest remaining section will go on display at the National Landscape Discovery Centre in the Northumberland National Park later this year.
The effort to preserve the tree’s legacy also goes beyond the region where it stood.
Forty-nine saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust. They will be planted in accessible public spaces across the country as “trees of hope”, which will allow parts of the Sycamore Gap to live on.
The defendants, who didn’t react when the verdicts were delivered, will be sentenced in July.
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