'From "Old Corruption" to the New Corruption? Public Life and Public Service in Britain c.1780-1940' Conference - 24-25 January 2019. Final Plenary 'Looking Back - Looking Forward' Transcript

Abstract

A major international conference in January 2019, hosted by Oxford Brookes University and supported by the British Academy, Kings College London and the Economic History Society, sought to shine a light on corruption in nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain – and what we can learn today in the fight against corruption. A final panel of experts reflected on present challenges and what might be learned from the past. The panel included Robert Barrington, (Executive Director of Transparency International, UK); Rosemary Carter (Ofqual); Anneliese Dodds (Oxford East MP); Andrew Feinstein (Founding Director of Corruption Watch); and Oonagh Gay (Senior Researcher in the Parliament and Constitution Centre). As the panellists concluded, although significant progress had been made over the course of centuries, corruption remained a significant problem. They assessed that it was not just that corruption continued to be practised by unscrupulous officials, ministers, MPs and businessmen, but that the very suspicion that those who hold public office were corrupt, served to undermine public trust in democratic governance, which itself was hugely damaging.