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If David Cameron, a man who has many sterling qualities and does have the capacity for greatness, does turn out to be a true heir to Blair, in the sense that he's just as deceitful, then it will be a calamity for Britain. It would mean that the direction of our national affairs had fallen into the hands of a narrow political class which is utterly devoid of morality and with it, the ability to connect with ordinary people. It would suggest that the cynics really are correct and that there really is no difference between the main political parties, and that leading politicians - in their bond of deceitfulness - have far more in common with each other than they do with ordinary voters. It would suggest that something terrible happens to British politicians when they get office and they at once start to lie and cheat.

It is also important that the cuts agenda does not deflect from wider reforms. First, the civil service and ministerial merry-go-round needs to be ended, with project management skills improved. In 2009, I became the fifth transport secretary in barely three years. In my previous three-and-a-half years as schools minister, I served under three secretaries of state in a department renamed and reorganised twice. This is no way to run the country.It is a similar story with the civil service, which is often far from permanent or expert, despite its image. As schools minister, driving forward the multibillion pound academy schools policy to replace failing schools, the biggest single obstacle I faced was the weakness of the Whitehall machine. In eight years I saw six directors of the academies programme come and go, for reasons entirely divorced from the requirements of the programme. All were capable, but policymaking and project management skills were often lacking.

Douglas arrived at HQ very agitated about it. ‘I can’t believe Ed Miliband,’ he complained. ‘You’d imagine that after ten years of waiting for this, and ten years complaining about Tony, we would have some idea of what we are going to do but we don’t seem to have any policies. For God’s sake, Harriet’s helping write the manifesto!’It was the first serious indication of a recurrent theme of Gordon’s premiership – everyone around him thought there was some big plan  sitting in a bottom drawer somewhere, just ready to be pulled out when the moment came. In fact, there was nothing.

"There is absolutely no room for anyone to trade on their ministerial office. People come into politics ‑ whether Labour, Tory or Lib Dem – because of what they want to do for the country. And I believe that's true for MPs across all parties, I don't think this is a partisan point."Anything which sullies that reputation or gets in the way of that public service is completely inimical. I think it's right that we have tightened up the rules already ... but the Labour manifesto is going to say more about the need for a statutory register of the lobbying industry, because there is absolutely no room for the sort of innuendo or promises that seem to have been floated in this case."

  Additionally, the latest results show widespread distrust in our politicians when the police, employment and phone hacking are involved. When it comes to ensuring justice on the hacking scandal, half (50%) do not trust any of the party leaders. A quarter (27%) trust David Cameron, 16% trust Ed Miliband and only 7% trust Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to ensure justice.   Similarly, more than half (55%) do not trust our party leaders to root out corruption in the police; employ people with strong moral values (55%) – a nod to Cameron hiring Andy Coulson – or to get rid of corruption in British politics (56%).   In the wake of the phone hacking scandal, a staggering four out of five (80%) do not trust the media, while just one in ten (10%) do and 10% don’t know. Alleged police involvement in the phone hacking scandal has lead to concern that there is wider corruption in the police force, with 77% who agree they are worried and a minimal 12% who disagree.