Public back family-run MP offices
Tuesday, 5 February 2008 12:00 AM
A majority of the public still believe MPs should be allowed to employ family members to work in their offices, according to the latest opinion poll.
Nearly three in five questioned by Populus for the Times said MPs could employ spouses or children as long as they are qualified for the job and are seen to do the work.
But nearly two in five said the practice should be banned when asked days after Conservative MP Derek Conway was stripped of the Tory whip, after it emerged he paid his sons for work that was allegedly never completed.
Despite the Conway affair, which has seen the MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup suspended from the House of Commons for ten days, more people associated the Labour party with sleaze.
Asked which party is most associated with financial sleaze, 69 per cent of people named Labour, who have been beset by Peter Hain's resignation over undisclosed donations and continued calls for an inquiry into Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander.
Just over half rated the Tories as the sleaziest party while 26 per cent associated the Liberal Democrats with financial wrongdoings.
Overall the Labour government is now seen as sleazier than John Major's Tories, with widespread sleaze allegations helping Labour to a landslide victory in 1997.
But the Conservatives are failing to replicate the poll lead enjoyed by Tony Blair in his final days of opposition.
The latest Populus poll puts the Tories out of reach of a parliamentary majority, down three on four per cent.
Labour are also down two on 31 per cent but have stopped haemorrhaging support, as seen in the autumn. Despite the momentum gained by Nick Clegg's leadership, the Lib Dems also fall two to 17 per cent.
For the Tories, the Populus results are the most optimistic of recent surveys. An ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph put them below the crucial 40 per cent benchmark at 37 per cent, with Labour on 32 per cent and the Lib Dems on 21 per cent.
An ICM poll for the Guardian at the end of last month gave Mr Cameron only a two-point lead, with the Tories on 37 per cent and Labour on 35 per cent.
Analysts attribute the fluctuations to shifting support between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
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