Labour now sleazier than the Conservatives

[Troll]

LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair's Labour government is sleazier than the Conservative administration it swept from power nine years ago, an opinion poll showed on Saturday.

Its findings increased the pressure on the premier to step down as his beleaguered government has been hit by sex scandals, mismanagement and accusations of trading state awards.

Blair, who promised to be "whiter than white" after defeating the Conservatives in a landslide 1997 election triumph, now faces even greater voter disillusionment.

The YouGov poll showed 69 percent of people looked on Labour as "very sleazy and disreputable" compared to 63 percent for the last Conservative government.

[Fungus]

I don't think they are any more sleazy than 9 years ago. But we have seen through the smarm. And of course the press tend to be like sheep. And everything tends to be black and white. (Maybe that's the nature of printing.)

[mcquiggd]

I am fairly certain that the 'New Labour is sleazier than the Tories' headlines started a couple of years ago...

An awful lot of the earlier 'revelations' have been long forgotten... Hindujas, Derry Irvine, Mandelson ad nauseum...

[BoredBloke]

"I don't think they are any more sleazy than 9 years ago. But we have seen through the smarm. And of course the press tend to be like sheep. And everything tends to be black and white. (Maybe that's the nature of printing.)"

I think the point is, that they promised that they would be whiter than white. Even during the latter days of the Tory party, when caught, ministers usually did the honourable thing and step down. What we have with this bunch of Champagne Socialists is a grim determination to hang onto the job (and salary and perks and pension).

[malvolio]

The other difference is that the Tories were basically incompetent and greedy, they weren't out to destroy the basic democratic nature of the country.

[BoredBloke]

But there is greed and GREED. The Hamiltons got destroyed over a few thousand pounds. The scale with New Labour has gone exponential since that. It almost makes Neil Hamilton look twee. Also, the scandals which hit the Tories did so to members on the outer edges of the party, usually MP's nobody has ever heard of. With New Labour it goes to the very top. Blair himself, the guy who uttered the 'whiter than white' phrase has also been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

[wendigo100]

Not only did Mr Blair say that his party would be whiter than white, but at the Labour party conference in 1996 John Prescott said:

They [the tories] are up to their necks in sleaze. The best slogan he could think up for their conference next week is, 'Life's Better Under The Tories'. Sounds to me like one of Steven Norris's chat up lines.

Can you believe that this lot is in charge? Not for long, eh? Then after 17 years of this Tory government, they have the audacity to talk about morality. Did you hear John Major on The Today Programme? - calling for ethics to come back into the political debate? I'm told some Tory MPs think ethics is a county near Middlesex. It's a bit hard to take: John Major - ethics man.

The Tories have redefined unemployment they have redefined poverty. Now they want to redefine morality. For too many Tories, morality means not getting caught.

Morality is measured in more than just money. It's about right and wrong. We are a party of principle. We will earn the trust of the British people. We've had enough lies. Enough sleaze.

[wendigo100]

The Hamiltons got destroyed over a few thousand pounds.

I always felt there was something wrong with that decision. The court preferred to believe Al Fayed at his word, which is not a sound premise.