It is quite instructive that the press have managed to damage the Tories' poll rating simply by pulling up the publicly-available list of MP registered interests and reporting them as the scandal they are and always were.

Why didn't they do this at any point in the past 10+ years? Because the press are owned and operated by the Tory party (sometimes once-removed, sometimes not) and understand that their primary function is to distribute pro-Tory propaganda.

So why are they doing it now? Because a) the opposition has been thoroughly defanged after the wholesale demolition of the left-wing Corbyn project and b) a lot of top Conservatives do not like Johnson because he makes them embarrassed at dinner parties, and would prefer someone like Gove. In other words, it's a Barclay twins vs Murdoch ruling-class squabble.