Boris Johnson forced to act in sleaze row

Ouch. Politics is a harsh old business.

On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer's team had decided to put him out in public to make a decisive statement, positioning him as the sleaze-buster in chief.

There had been some mutterings on his own side about why he wasn't doing more to punch the metaphorical bruise of Tory agony on the issue - perhaps, in part, because of his own legal work before he became leader, but was already an MP.

Labour has been extremely vocal in its criticism of Tory behaviour, but it had not made a dramatic move thus far.

Yet, just as the moment arrived, even during the introduction by his deputy, Angela Rayner, someone else decided to intervene before Sir Keir was able to open his mouth.

Yes, you guessed it, one Boris Johnson.

A letter was miraculously posted online just after the stroke of 15:30 - when the Labour event began - from the prime minister to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

It called for a ban on MPs working as paid consultants and for MPs - perhaps like a certain Geoffrey Cox - who enjoy their paid extra curricular activities a little too much to face investigations by the sleaze watchdogs, with possible punishments to match.

Yes, that's right. The prime minister who a fortnight ago ordered his troops to protect one of their own who had fallen foul of the existing rules on lobbying, and defended the tradition of MPs being able to do outside work, is now proposing tighter rules and harsher penalties.

I hope you'd forgive me for gently pointing out that the timing of this change of heart is about as subtle as being smacked in the face.

But while it may have taken some of the fizz out of Labour's event, it's a pretty clear admission from No 10 that its response to the handling of sleaze allegations has been messy, and simply, as many of MPs on their own side freely worry about, not good enough, not near it.

It seems to have damaged the party in the polls, exposed real fault lines between different Tory generations and tribes, and disturbed many in the party.

As one minister described it: "Own goals of this magnitude are depressing."

Downing Street might now be hoping that what some even inside government see as an overdue move will start to quell the concerns about what's been going on.

Finally, a concrete proposal of action to tighten the rules could mean the saga begins to fade.

But, as another member of the government suggested, impatience and grumpiness could grow: "This could easily flip - they need to listen to those of us actually on the doorsteps."

And there are still differences between what the prime minister is proposing and how far Labour would go.

The Conservatives are suggesting banning work as "paid consultants or lobbyists", but it's not clear specifically how far that ban would go in terms of MPs' outside interests.

Meanwhile, Labour's plan would go further to disallow all second jobs apart from public service roles.

Sir Keir's thunder might have been stolen by the PM on Tuesday. But the rumblings might continue.

No 10's action reveals the political pressure was enough to rattle Boris Johnson into taking action.

And ahead of a vote on the issue Wednesday, that's a victory that the Labour leadership will be only too happy to try to claim.