The rules on MPs’ standards are hopeless. Here’s how to clean up parliament | Gina Miller

A year ago Boris Johnson warned of an “invisible mugger” threatening our country’s way of life and institutions. He was talking of Covid-19 – but, as I wrote at the time in the Guardian, the real mugger destabilising the nation is more likely to be the prime minister himself.

What we’ve seen in parliament over the last week is more symptom than cause. It’s clear that a prime minister who lacks integrity or conviction while possessing a large parliamentary majority will always be tempted to test our fragile, outdated democratic machinery of government to its limits. With innumerable business and media chums, and underscored by self-interest and a lust for power that began at the age of 10, Johnson cannot resist ravaging our mother of all parliaments and our somewhat limited democratic checks and balances.

However, despite my expectations, I confess to being astonished at the depth, speed and wholesale nature of the mugging, which makes me think there is even worse to come. Not only are the Conservatives willing to change the rules whenever they are caught out by them, but shameless grandstanding, justification of U-turns and reworking the facts all appear to be the new normal of our politics. I am reminded daily of the observations of Anthony Trollope, who, writing of a dysfunctional London in the 1870s, said: “A certain class of dishonesty … has become at the same time so rampant and so splendid that there seems to be reason for fearing that men and women will be taught to feel that dishonesty, if it can become splendid, will cease to be abominable.”

Is that where we are now?

Johnson and co have been trashing our democratic institutions and norms though divisive messaging and the introduction of ideologically driven legislative reforms: the elections bill; the higher education (freedom of speech) bill; the police, crime and sentencing courts bill; the judicial review and courts bill; the nationality and borders bill; and the envisaged human rights bill. Together they are set to diminish our rights and voices in the courts, in the media, on the streets and at the ballot box.

Johnson appears to believe that if he can’t get his own way, he can either ignore or change the rules with total impunity. The arrogance he displayed in relation to the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal was breathtaking. One can only surmise he is now refusing to back Geoffrey Cox in order to deflect from his own questionable behaviour and save his own skin.

These antics just confirm people’s worst fears about politicians and further diminish already dire levels of trust, recklessly damaging people’s belief in our institutions of parliament and in democracy. These may not be perfect, but we have a representative democracy, and it better serves the people to defend, improve and strengthen it.

Of course, it is naive to believe that people in public office will naturally behave with honour, or that principles and codes are enough. During the spring no fewer than 11 ministers were reportedly found to have broken the ministerial code and should by rights have resigned; but the kind of honour, principles and integrity that saw MPs resign (with varying levels of pressure) in the past now appear to be extinct.

And, however outraged we are about the dubious behaviour of politicians such as Cox – who appears not to have broken the rules, as he says the chief whip approved him going to the Caribbean while the Commons sat – many of them get away with it because the rules are so weak.

It was only a matter of time before someone exploited our unwritten constitution. After the parliamentary expenses scandal was exposed in 2009, there was a general agreement among the main political parties that our politics needed to be fixed. There was a real attempt to empower voters by allowing the recall of MPs but, absurdly, it was ultimately up to MPs themselves to decide how long erring members could be suspended; and, worse, in terms of members of the cabinet, it is the prime minister who has the final say on whether behaviour is unacceptable.

In May, Johnson claimed people didn’t care if a Tory donor was asked to pay for a nanny for the prime minister’s baby son; but the reality is, we do care. The committee on standards in public life found that three-quarters of respondents surveyed agreed that ethical standards in government are important for making democracy work – and for preventing people using power for their own ends.

We have to stop politicians marking their own homework, and bring in legal frameworks that deter bad behaviour. We need a legally binding agreement between MPs and those who elect them, to ensure that all understand what is expected. Working hours, disciplinary policy, harassment, discrimination, expenses, misconduct, conflicts of interest and outside jobs should all be covered. I believe this reform would change the culture, calibre and cost of politics overnight.

After three decades as a transparency campaigner, it makes me angry knowing the utter waste of time, effort, and money that those in positions of power spend defending the indefensible and peddling morally and intellectually bankrupt arguments. It’s time to fortify our machinery of government and public office so the good are rewarded, the bad are sanctioned, and safety nets are put in place to control the actions of any unscrupulous person who ends up holding the reins of power.

MPs can then get on with what they’re paid to do: to take on their legislative responsibilities and look after those who elected them.