Watchdog Report and Corruption Discourse in London

The recent resurgence of the debate around the often cosy relationship between elected Members of the UK’s House of Commons and private sector actors has been dominating headlines. It throws into sharp relief the issues around paid work by MPs alongside their parliamentary duties and essential role of advocating for their own constituents. Despite the UK’s consistently high ranking on Transparency International’s corruption index (CPI), which measures perceived corruption as assessed by experts in academia and industry, continued coverage of ‘sleaze’ (hereafter corruption) and undue influence risk damaging the UK’s reputation on an international stage.