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Peter Oborne

Peter Oborne is the Daily Telegraph's chief political commentator.

David Chaytor debased British democracy

By Peter Oborne Politics Last updated: January 7th, 2011

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Chaytor: jailed for 18 months today (Photo: PA)

David Chaytor has 18 months in prison and quite right, too. What he did was disgusting: he debased British democracy by stealing money from the taxpayer. Chaytor symbolises institutionalised New Labour corruption – that is, corruption on a scale that has not been seen in British politics since the 18th century.

In the 1990s, Labour created a narrative of “Tory sleaze”, of endemic government corruption. In truth, there was little basis to this narrative, which was mainly based on ghastly sexual prurience about people’s private lives – their marital infidelity, their homosexuality. But the image stuck in the popular imagination, of a sleaze-ridden Conservative Party in power.

New Labour was, in fact, far more corrupt, and Chaytor’s conviction is part of that wider phenomenon. Under Tony Blair, we witnessed the sale of peerages, the sale of government policies to rich businessmen, and systematic deception as a tool of government. Yet the media gave far less attention to this endemic corruption than it did to “Tory sleaze” – and that remains the case even today.

Tags: david chaytor, MPs' expenses