The House Article | We must deal with a corrupt system, not just a person who abused it

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Exactly 14 years to the day before Peter Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords, my old boss, Chris Huhne, resigned from the cabinet and the Commons for covering up a driving offence, which later saw him sent to prison. As the then-Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer ensured the case was prosecuted. That custodial sentence should sit uncomfortably with the disgraced former Labour peer.

British politics has an eerily familiar way of dealing with scandal.

First comes the revelation. Then the outrage. Then demands for resignation, suspension, or sanction. No matter what punishment follows (or often doesn’t), the story eventually fades, and the system that produced it remains intact. In this ecosystem, all the energy is directed towards chasing the offender; far less towards preventing similar abuses by others. 

Now is surely the time for us to acknowledge that this is not good enough.

The allegations against Mandelson demand thorough investigation – no one should escape scrutiny for their actions or complicity. If it is indeed the case that, having enjoyed their patronage, he leaked sensitive and confidential government discussions at the height of a national crisis to his own associates – individuals who potentially stood to benefit from that information – then that would be a very serious matter. Now that the police are investigating Mandelson, perhaps we could turn towards lessons learned and consequent reforms.

Buried within the Mandelson case are uncomfortable but unavoidable questions about the proximity of wealth and power: how former ministers, advisers and donors move between public roles and private interests; how access is sold and influence bought; and how the deepening links between private wealth and public power have become entrenched. 

When the Prime Minister took office, he declared that restoring trust would be one of the defining tests of this era. He was right to do so, but this episode will only reinforce a deeply held suspicion: that those with wealth enjoy privileged access to power, that they use that access in their own interests, and that politicians are too often complicit in this arrangement.

Polling consistently shows that public confidence in the integrity of our system is fragile. Yet too often, the political response treats each controversy as isolated, rather than cumulative. That is a mistake. 

The Mandelson affair should prompt a broader reckoning to finally break this cycle and send a clear message to the public that these offences are treated with the severity they merit. Fortunately, there are immediate opportunities to do exactly that. Parliament is currently considering measures to reform the offence of misconduct in public office through The Public Office (Accountability) Bill. Used properly, this could bring clarity, strengthen enforcement, and ultimately deter misconduct. 

We are also anticipating an elections bill. That legislation offers a chance to break the link between wealth and power, to end the dependency of our political parties who are increasingly reliant on a small number of very wealthy individuals. When a billionaire can do no more for them than someone running a local shop, the attention of some politicians will inevitably shift. 

We will soon, therefore, know if the righteous outrage voiced by backbenchers in Parliament this week translates into courageous champions for deeper reform.

The latest Mandelson affair should not be remembered solely as another chapter in Westminster’s cycle of outrage or the downfall of a political figure. It should be the moment when we finally acknowledge that restoring trust requires changing the rules of the game, not just disciplining those occasionally caught out.

This case underscores how enabling environments for corruption can intersect with other serious abuses. Where elite networks operate without oversight, and where misconduct faces no real consequences, multiple forms of exploitation – including sexual violence – continue with impunity. Accountability gaps don’t exist in isolation.

We owe it to the victims at the heart of this story to challenge the power structures that first meant their abusers thought they could carry on with impunity. That might be our best chance of no longer seeing scandal repeated and yet more suffer its abuses.  

Duncan Hames is Director of Policy at Transparency International UK and a former Liberal Democrat MP.