Damian Green, First Secretary of State, has lost his job, not because he molested anyone or downloaded pornographic images, but because he told a few fibs. Such is modern politics.
It seems that Mr Green did not quite tell the truth when asked what he knew about the discovery of pornographic, though entirely legal, images that were found on a computer in his offices in 2008. This untruthfulness breached what is known as the Ministerial Code and so he had to be sacked, and Teresa May's cabinet suffered another serious blow.
Mr Green is the third Cabinet Minister to be sacked, or asked to resign, in recent weeks, following Sir Michael Fallon and Priti Patel out of the door of Number 10. Both Messrs Green and Fallon were key allies of the Prime Minister, long established figures and very senior politicians; that they have both fallen by the wayside as a result of failures to behave as is expected of people in such high office must be a matter of some concern. In the case of Ms Patel, she simply went awry and seemed to get carried away with her own self-importance, also a matter of concern.
Politicians are representatives of the people or, at least, that is the theory. Sadly, it seems that too often they are people who will do anything to climb the greasy pole and will then lie, cheat, cajole and threaten to stay there. They see themselves as being above the law and codes of conduct don't really apply to them unless, that is, they get caught. Too many see political office as nothing more nor less than a doorway to honours, further opportunities and fortune.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mr Green's actions, or those of Mr Fallon or Ms Patel, that three senior ministers should be caught out in such a short time makes one wonder what else there is that we don't know about the activities of those in high office, now and in the past. I shudder at the thought.
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