In 1994, during one of the many sleaze scandals that reduced John Major’s government to tatters, the then Leader of the Opposition Tony Blair expressed deep concern about going on the attack. According to Alastair Campbell, Blair believed sticking the boot into the Tories “would end up tarring all politics.”

Such concerns have resurfaced in recent months. We have seen public faith in the integrity of our politicians damaged by a string of highly-publicised indiscretions on all sides. Tory glee at a succession of Labour funding rows has been tempered by the revelation that Conservative MP Derek Conway paid his sons up to £77,000 for work that was apparently never performed. North of the border, both the First Minister Alex Salmond and Labour’s Wendy Alexander have both been embroiled in corruption allegations.

Such scandals sparked a feeding frenzy in the national press, with a host of headlines returning to the ancient stereotype of politicians as greedy, disingenuous hypocrites. British politics seem not just tarred, but feathered to boot.

Does this render ridiculous Britain’s claim to have the least corrupt politics in the world? Strangely, studies show that, if not quite at the summit of clean politics, our nation’s record is far from shameful. According to the NGO, Transparency International, we rank twelfth in the Corruption Perceptions Index, falling short of the habitually impeccable Scandinavian nations, but still setting an example to fellow G7 members such as France, Germany and the United States.

In a country where “corruption” is primarily associated with pantomime figures such as Neil Hamilton, it is easy to forget what a profoundly serious issue this can be. Of the $4 trillion spent worldwide on government public contracts each year, $400 billion is lost to bribery: more than the total income of the population of Africa. During this epidemic of corruption, for decades kleptocratic leaders have laid waste to the economic prospects of many African nations, living lives of unfathomable luxury while millions starve, making a mockery of international aid efforts. Raymond Baker of the Brookings Institution estimates that “for every $1 of foreign aid that we are generously handing out across the top of the table, we are taking back some $4-8 in dirty money under the table.” It is small wonder that the World Bank names corruption as the single biggest obstacle to global development.

Compared with the grotesque injustices of Africa, the problem of corruption in this country seems small indeed: a tardily declared donation appears utterly trivial against an insidious culture of misappropriation that has doomed many millions of Africans to lives of poverty and hardship.

It has been argued that the British media have shown brazen irresponsibility in their treatment of recent political scandals, undermining the reputation of our political system by over-emphasising minor indiscretions of little real significance. This argument’s fatal flaw is its utter failure to acknowledge the crucial function of Blair’s “feral beast”, the free press: that of holding a nation’s leaders to account. It is hugely reassuring that senior politicians in this country cannot expect to break even the most minor of laws; and long may this remain the case. Britain’s culture of intolerance towards any sort of corruption is our surest guarantee against the gross dishonesty that has damaged so much of the world.