The government’s repeated attempts to delay disciplinary action against misbehaving Tory MPs have exacerbated a culture of misogyny and harassment in parliament, according to Keir Starmer, who claims that “a fish rots from the head.”

When asked about new allegations of abusive and s********d behavior by MPs following the departure of Conservative backbencher Neil Parish for watching pornography in the Commons chamber, Starmer stated meaningful reform has to be “driven and modelled from the top.”

Downing Street’s reaction in a succession of similar misbehavior incidents, according to the Labour leader, has been to either ignore the matter or to delay any serious response.

Starmer told, “What we have seen from this government, time and again, is when one of their own gets into a difficulty, into a problem, they’ve done something they shouldn’t have done, whether it’s own Paterson, whether it’s the Wakefield MP [Imran Ahmad Khan], or Neil Parish, their first instinct is to push it off into the long grass, hide what’s happening,”

“That is a political problem, because a fish rots from the head, and there needs to be political leadership on this as well. And we haven’t seen that yet from the Conservative party.”

Previously Kwasi Kwarteng, rejected the idea that there was a wider issue about standards in Westminster.

“I don’t think there’s a culture of misogyny,” he said. “I think the problem we have is that people are working in a really intense environment. There are long hours, and I think generally, most people know their limits, they know how to act respectfully.

“But there are some instances where people don’t, frankly, act according to the highest standards.”

Starmer rejected this by saying, “Those who are engaged in this sort of activity, whether it’s comment about Angela Rayner or watching p*** in the House of Commons, have to take responsibility.”

Kwarteng did not accept the idea of all-women shortlists to improve the gender balance of Conservative MPs, saying he had “never been a fan of quotas”.

He also rejected the idea of closing bars in parliament, “No, they shouldn’t all be shut, I don’t think we should have an excessively puritanical severe regime in that regard.”