Its been a big day in politics.

Finally, and somewhat late, Gordon Brown said sorry. He said he was sorry, shocked and angry. Not sorry for his disastrous handling of the economy. Not sorry for raising taxes on the poor by cutting the 10p tax rate. Not sorry for the culture of government that has become so insular and thuggish. But sorry for a scurrilous email that was sent by his most trusted adviser.

The second great story of today has been the formal announcement that charges will not be pursued against Damian Green MP, the Conservative’s immigration spokesman. The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has failed to say sorry for allowing the first arrest of a member of parliament inside parliament since the Civil War. It was an outrageous and totally unjustified action, and typical of a government that has, as Lord Acton said more than 120 years ago, though its absolute power, become absolutely corrupt.

For government to be truly successful it must carry the trust of the people. The culture of politics that has permeated Labour for so long has abused that trust too painfully. And it has done so for far too long. It seems extraordinary that a civil servant, even though a political appointee in the key Downing Street adviser Damian McBride, should even contemplate that it might be acceptable to seek to damage the reputation, and it would seem the sexual reputation, of senior opposition members. Such action would be utterly unacceptable in any other field of the public or private sector, and the permeator of such action would be subject to disciplinary action and probable suspension. For McBride to spin his filth in the blogosphere just smacks of indecency and incompetence.

Somehow I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised because McBride’s emails were addressed to the once rehabilitated spin-doctor, Derek Draper. I know Draper. We were students at Manchester University together. He was a leading light in the Labour Students Club, and worked his way up to be Communications officer of the Student Union. I was just an ordinary member of the University’s Conservative Association, and went to university to study and not to play at politics. But Draper and I often crossed swords in the Union’s debating society, and in Union council meetings. He was supremely confident even then; he was cocky, and frankly arrogant. It was not a nice political training. But it was a highly relevant one.

To win the trust of the people this whole culture needs to change. That’s my pledge of action whilst I serve as a member of the Board of the Conservative Party. I will strive to encourage honesty and decency in politics. A politics where when you get things wrong you say so. A politics when someone asks a reasonable question you give a straightforward answer. A politics that is respectful and protects liberty and order. And a politics where spinning a line gives way to publicising the truth.

This can only be delivered by real change. That’s not just the minor change of replacing Jacqui Smith with some other Labour incompetent. The real change is needed from the ballot box when the nation will judge Labour for what it is. Shallow, deceitful, devoid of honest ideas, and not fit for government.