In the news

I think the problem is the same as it's always been. The sort of people who want to get into positions of power are rarely the people that the population would want to be in positions of power.

The narrative that all politicians are liars and all the same has played into the hands of the genuinely dodgy. Whataboutery around making opposition councillors try to sound the same as MPs using their influence to spaff hundreds of millions of public pounds are part of that. Not to say that we should accept any sort of dodgyness from public officials.

The proposals for the changes to the crime of "Misconduct in public office" would be a first step perhaps...

An offence of corruption in public office: which would apply where a public office holder knowingly uses or fails to use their public position or power for the purpose of achieving a benefit or detriment, where that behaviour would be considered seriously improper by a “reasonable person”. A defendant to this offence will have a defence if they can demonstrate that their conduct was, in all the circumstances, in the public interest.