Are our MP’s standards of decency falling?

No, it's not. Mine's a tory...

Is it the same one, Ab?

A female Labour MP charged with lying to police on two occasions re driving offences. Silly woman .

Utterly apalled this morning to find a sitting tory MP on twitter promoting a crowdfunding appeal for the young man who has been found to have broken the Electoral law.
This is the law under which she was elected to parliament; is she ignorant of the link between being a legislator and uoholding the law of the land?

I won't publish a link for obvious reasons....

kim19 of current MPs Ì would include Dennis Skinner, Ed Davey, Diana Johnson, Peter Bottomly. I would also have listed Alan Johnson, Jo Cox, Simon Hughes if including recent but no longer serving MPs. There will be others....

"In recent months we have seen and heard of many instances where Parliamentarians standards of behaviour have been under the spotlight, including sexual abuse, bullying, deceitful practices, sheer rudeness and arrogant behaviour".

That paragraph says it all, that really is normal behavior for the party whips, they don't actually use sex abuse directly but any dirt they have ( and they have a lot ) they use to persuade MPs to tow the party line. You may not realise but that extends right down to local councils, step out of line and you are out, that's what party Local Agents do. ( a friend of mine was kicked out for disobeying the party line )
Bullying in this way is what makes political parties strong, many MPs start as local councillors, wanting to serve the community, all quickly learn its serving the party machine that counts.

Can we change that, NO, we can replace those that get caught, the illusion that all those that we give power to are going to be honest and decent does not exist. That is true of all political elites wether democratic, socialist or communist. The only saving grace is that in the UK political misbehavior is much less prevalent than most other countries

Listening to Radio 4 this morning, it was stated that the Lib Dems ( which surprised me) had broken the pairing rule a lot, the Conservatives a few times, but Labour at least 50 times!
This is obviously a problem, and the ‘gentlemens agreement’ aspect only really works when the voting isn’t all that important.

No amount of increased public knowledge seems to stop Ministers breaching the Ministerial Code or MPs breaking the 'gentleman's agreements' of Parliamentary conduct without any comeback.

Excellent comment craftycat!

Whew! And here I thought we Americans had the monopoly on bad behavior in politics.

I'm wondering if there's any merit in limiting the number of times a person can sit as a constituency MP.

I suspect that the behaviour of members of Parliament is the same as always it’s just communication is better these days.

Have standards fallen, or are we just more enlightened to what actually occurs?

I doubt they can fall any farther!

Yes, standards of decency and morality have quite definitely fallen everywhere and not only amongst politicians.

Or do we just think so, because (dare I say it?) we are getting old?

Politicians may be no worse than anyone else. But they get found out more, because their opposition have an interest in digging dirt about them.

We have double standards, even among politicians. Some have their careers destroyed by causing even slight 'offence'. Others seem fireproof. Yes, I'm talking about you, Boris and Donald!

I think things are better now than ever before for the simple reason that with social media & modern communication it is far more difficult to sweep things under the carpet. Thinking back to my history lessons with rotten Boroughs & the upper classes going into politics for the opportunity to feather their own nests etc. I think we probably have a heck of a lot more people in politics for the right reasons. Unfortunately we don't hear so much about them as they get on & do & don't make the headlines.

Misleading the House used to be a resigning offence, now it seems to be the norm.

It's nothing new. Profumo and Thorpe spring to mind.

PECS, I was wondering if you would name some of the past MPs you outline in your first statement, please? I'd be interested in doing some research.

"It was ever thus"

I think there were always some appalling people at Westminster. The difference is that now the media can tell us about them with varying degrees of accuracy.
The remedy is in the hands of the voters. If your MP is a sex pest, a liar, or an embezzler don’t vote for him or her next time. Simples!
NB I did NOT say ‘don’t vote’!

Doesn't matter where you look in society ethical and moral standards have declined. Just need to look at Joe Public; behaviour, dress, speech, eating, work, relationships. Politicians are no less affected. Difference is that with the media today we are made aware instantly of any misdemeanor whereas it used to take years before being uncovered. Nothing has changed other than investigative journalism and communications.

Nothing much has changed on our political scene from, say, 50 or so years ago. MPs have been much the same over time.

What HAS happened is that we are now told by media about every little bit that in the past we might never have heard about. There is a proliferation of information and much of it is doubtful, biased or simply the opinion of one person.

MPs have never been examples to follow, just the odd exception, much like the rest of the public. They are all the same homo sapiens as us.

Add to that, regarding bad behaviour from all political parties at times ,it is not just ‘according to me’ but according to just about everybody I should think.

Eloethan as usual you are ready to jump in with both boots on.
You are right in one thing only, that I criticise the LP ....however, when they have rid themselves of the three amigos, (second rate brains with marxist views) the LP under the right Leader and with a better shadow cabinet could actually do well.
I have not ‘jumped to the defence of the Conservative Party’
In any of my posts on here, I suggest you read them again.
The Conservatives haven’t been doing well ( although TMay has to be applauded for staying power and sense of duty, unlike the cowardly Cameron.)I asked the OP a perfectly reasonable question btw.