A performer portraying Andy Burnham arrived outside Downing Street today armed with a broom and cleaning supplies in a symbolic call for the new Prime Minister to make cleaning up politics one of his first priorities in office.
The stunt, organised by the Clean Up Westminster campaign, urged the new Government to restore public trust by taking big money out of politics, cracking down on corruption and misconduct by Ministers and MPs, and cleaning out the House of Lords.
Olly Buston, Director of Clean Up Westminster, said:
“Today Andy Burnham said he will make politics work better and he wants this moment to be a political circuit breaker. We welcome this commitment and urge him to keep his promise to introduce a cap on political donations. This would be the perfect circuit breaker on the corrosive influence of big money in politics.
When the Representation of the People Bill returns to parliament in a few weeks Prime Minister Burnham has a historic opportunity to strike a powerful, early, and hugely popular blow for democracy by introducing a cap.
The recent circus surrounding Nigel Farage’s funding has shined a fierce spotlight on money in politics. But this isn’t about one man and one party. It’s time to stop the funding arms race where all the parties are doing dirty deals with dodgy donors.”
High-resolution images from today’s stunt can be found here.
ENDS
Media enquiries
Sara Badawi
WhatsApp/Signal/Text: 07826 528296
sarabadawi@cleanupwestminster.org
Notes to editors
Clean Up Westminster is a non-partisan campaign to reduce the influence of money in politics and strengthen standards in public life.
This stunt follows a series of high-profile Clean Up Westminster campaign actions, including a Westminster Tube takeover, “clean graffiti” installations across Westminster and a political scrubdown in Parliament Square featuring performers portraying Peter Mandelson, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. The campaign’s launch video has been viewed more than 2 million times on Instagram.