SHARON HODGSON: After all the sleaze, the scandals and the failure, it’s time for proper change

'Some people have been quick to say that politicians are all the same, but Keir Starmer is proving them wrong. He is a man of integrity and honesty.' Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

In the meantime, his resignation has triggered a contest to elect a new Conservative party leader which means that we continue to be tormented by the internal squabbles of the Tories.

In the coming weeks, as we watch the Tory candidates jostling for position and competing for the top job, it is important to remember one thing: they all stood by Boris Johnson. Almost every candidate went on TV, day after day to defend his lies.

Just look at some of the candidates we have seen. Take Liz Truss as one example. Only one month ago, Truss was publicly stating that “The Prime Minister has my 100% backing” and should continue as PM. Now that she has launched her own leadership campaign, Truss is saying that Johnson was “right to resign”.

Or Nadhim Zahawi for that matter. Zahawi agreed to become Boris Johnson’s chancellor last Tuesday and said that “The nation will not forgive us if we turn in on ourselves and indulge in a leadership election for the next months”. He then published a letter less than 48 hours later urging Johnson to resign.

Zahawi, like Liz Truss, and almost every other Tory candidate we have seen, publicly defended Boris Johnson and then fled the sinking ship when it suited their own career. There isn’t a backbone or a shred of integrity between them.

Over the weekend, the contenders carried on with their dishonesty by promising more than £200bn worth of tax cuts without a word on how it’ll be paid for. Yet, the vast majority of these candidates served in Boris Johnson’s government and backed every one of his 15 tax rises.

They will say anything to feed their own personal ambitions and they continue to take the British public for fools.

When I look at Keir Starmer, I couldn’t see a bigger contrast compared with the lot of them. After all the lies we have been told by this Government, some people have been quick to say that politicians are all the same. But Keir is proving them wrong. He is a man of integrity and honesty.

After all the sleaze, the scandals and the failure, it’s time for proper change. The Tory party is corrupted and changing one man won’t fix that. We don’t need a new captain of the sinking Tory ship, but a Labour government ready to re-energise Britain.