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Home Opinion

A self-inflicted mess on MPs’ second jobs is causing an earthquake at Westminster

by London Mail
February 14, 2024
in Opinion
Reading Time: 2 mins read
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Boris Johnson’s ill-starred attempt to overturn the suspension of Owen Paterson for breaching parliamentary rules prohibiting paid advocacy is causing an earthquake at Westminster. It brought back into focus the issue of whether MPs should have any outside jobs at all or be full-time politicians. Labour saw the chance to resurrect the “Tory sleaze” allegations that haunted the administration of Sir John Major in the 1990s, triggering a feeding frenzy against anyone with paid outside interests.

Just as Sir Keir Starmer rose to his feet to announce Labour’s plans to prohibit many second jobs, the Prime Minister sought to steal a march by publishing his own proposals by way of Twitter. In a letter to the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, he proposed an outright ban on consultancies, whereby MPs offer advice to companies that retain their services, and an unspecified restriction on backbenchers prioritising outside interests over those of their constituents.

This latter provision follows the furore over the legal activities of Sir Geoffrey Cox, the former attorney-general, who spent 1,000 hours last year advising the British Virgin Islands in a public inquiry. The proposed change to the rules appears to suggest that the work is allowed provided it does not take up too much time. Sir Keir, for instance, also carried out legal work as an MP before joining the shadow cabinet, the only difference with Sir Geoffrey being the hours billed.

Mr Johnson has sensibly stopped short of joining Labour in pushing for an almost complete ban on second jobs, though it should be pointed out that being a government minister is also paid employment that keeps an MP away from his or her “main job”, whatever that is supposed to be. Long ago, this used to be acknowledged since MPs were not paid at all and, until 1926, if they wanted to join the government they had to win a by-election.

Doubtless pollsters report that voters think MPs should focus entirely on Westminster activities despite the fact that continuing to work as a lawyer, doctor, dentist or even as a journalist might give them a different insight that can better frame legislation. Mr Johnson has sought to extricate himself from a self-inflicted mess by making it harder for his colleagues to keep a career going in the event that their time in Parliament is curtailed. They are unlikely to be impressed.

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