Skip to main content
Sleaze then and now: what’s changed?
When the Tory government of the early ’90s was brought down by sleaze, the papers focused on the salacious and sexual. Those MPs who denounced the corporate gravy train too would only go on to ride it, remembers SOLOMON HUGHES

BORIS JOHNSON’S problem with lockdown-breaking parties and other scandals is being widely compared to the “sleaze scandals” that helped bring down John Major in the 1990s.

In the words of an Express headline: “Tories on brink after ‘build-up of sleaze’ mirrors 90s downfall.”

The many interlocking scandals contributed a lot to Major losing the 1997 election.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Sabrina Carpenter performs during The BRIT Awards 2025 at London's O2 Arena, March 1, 2025
Features / 16 May 2025
16 May 2025

Labour’s pop-loving front bench have snaffled up even more music tickets worth thousands apiece, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

Channel Migrants
Features / 9 May 2025
9 May 2025

Secret consultation documents finally released after the Morning Star’s two-year freedom of information battle show the Home Office misrepresented public opinion, claiming support for policies that most respondents actually strongly criticised as dangerous and unfair, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Scud_downed_by_Patriot_missiles
Media / 2 May 2025
2 May 2025

SOLOMON HUGHES highlights a 1995 Sunday Times story about the disappearance of ‘defecting Iraqi nuclear scientist.’ Even though the story was debunked, it was widely repeated across the mainstream press, creating the false – and deadly – narrative of Iraqi WMD that eventually led to war

LOCKED-IN OUTSOURCING: Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during the official opening of HMP Millsike in Yorkshire, to be run by the notorious outsourcing firm Mitie
Features / 24 April 2025
24 April 2025

Despite Labour’s promises to bring things ‘in-house,’ the Justice Secretary has awarded notorious outsourcing outfit Mitie a £329 million contract to run a new prison — despite its track record of abuse and neglect in its migrant facilities, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
Taylor Swift performing on stage during her Eras Tour at the
Features / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
They’re the problem it’s them: SOLOMON HUGHES on the freeloading flunkies of the Labour Party hoovering up VIP tickets to musical and sporting events
SITTING PRETTY: (Left to right) Baroness Liddell, Claire Kob
Features / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
Let’s take a closer look at the sprawling network of former ministers, political insiders and officials who make money from the firms responsible for soldiers’ squalid accommodation, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DISQUIETING IMPLICATIONS: Labour leader Keir Starmer and the
Features / 30 August 2024
30 August 2024
SOLOMON HUGHES delves into a consultancy that claims it 'grew out of the labour movement'
A Conservative Party rosette, May 6, 2016
Britain / 23 June 2024
23 June 2024