Will the next Tory leader tackle sleaze?

All the candidates in this Tory leadership contest will have to pay tribute to the importance of standards in public life, given what did for Boris Johnson. For some of them, this will probably be as meaningful as posting a #bekind meme on social media.

But if there isn’t a wider reckoning over standards and particularly sexual harassment, then the Conservatives –  and all the other parties –  are just setting themselves up for more scandals. This should matter particularly to the Tories given their general belief in preserving and strengthening institutions: parliament as a whole has been seriously damaged by the scandals of the past few months, and so far there is precious little evidence that anyone is bothering to think about how that will change. 

There is currently no party in parliament which can offer a best practice guide to tackling a culture of harassment or indeed dealing with complaints and reports of inappropriate behaviour when they arise.