One paid job only if you are an MP.

[Part of the public]

If the majority of people chose to have all elected politicians work only as politicians without other paid work. How would the public make this happen. ?

 

The Public being the Employer of politicians, I think we have the right to set their terms of employment when a concession if found among the public.

 

Other than politicians consenting to a referendum on the subject, how would you change things. ?

 

I strongly suspect any politician raising a bill in parliament for the purpose of a referendum would receive a strong push back from the establishment and the referendum would not be approved by vote in parliament.

 

Number 1

Give politicians notice that all those standing for election, that the only paid work they were allowed is to work as a political representative for the period they represent those who voted them into the job of MP.

 

Number 2 How to police the rule.

 

Number 3 What happens if there is evidence of breaking the rule.

 

It could be done by the public only voting for politicians who are willing to sign up to those conditions.

 

Remember, you get the person you vote for, not just the party.

 

If more than one newspaper took this up as a campaign, change might be possible.

 

[Wee-Bey]

I don't think the general public give that much of a f**k tbqhwy.

"I can excuse Sir Reginald's racism, but I draw the line at him having 2 jobs"

[Angus of the Mo]

MPs at Westminster have a parliamentary watch body, but it falls flat on its erse because they select who can be hired or fired.
D Ross, leader, belter togetherist and Blighties Rep., in Scotland has 3 jobs, MP, MSP and linesman / Rangers helper.

How the fekk does that work?

When Salmond was in both parliaments he donated one of his wages to charity.

D Ross is reported as taking donations from dodgy places.  Ruth, also on several wages, is now a Lord, which tells me if you slag off the jock c*nts you get privilege.

 

[Billy Jean King]

The public are the employer of no one, it's one of the most common misnomers, the old "I pay your wages" directed at anyone employed in
government, the civil service, the NHS or any other public sector body. If we did employ these people then we would control such matters as 2nd jobs but we don't so currently we can't. MPs are pretty much self governing and as such the opportunity for public scrutiny is very limited until they face election. We control who fills the post via the ballot box but that's precisely where the public's influence ends.

[Abdul_Latif]

The public need to be very fucking careful what they wish for here.

It’ll end up serving MPs can only have one job, but you better believe if that’s the case they’ll make sure they earn £500K minimum.

 

[parsforlife]

23 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

The public need to be very fucking careful what they wish for here.

It’ll end up serving MPs can only have one job, but you better believe if that’s the case they’ll make sure they earn £500K minimum.

 

I'd much rather pay that cost than what we've lost from their corruption.

[Zern]

34 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

The public need to be very fucking careful what they wish for here.

It’ll end up serving MPs can only have one job, but you better believe if that’s the case they’ll make sure they earn £500K minimum.

 

They should be banned from accepting any other work outside their chosen profession; seriously if you or i where to take on another job and ignore our duties to our main job, to the extent of taking weeks away from work, we would be fired.

These are the same MPs who have no trouble accepting yearly pay rises recommended by an independent body. Yet are willing to completely ignore other independent bodies set up to police their conduct.

It is disgusting to watch someone who has a revenue stream that is in the top 5% of earners in the country, along with a whole barrage of perks, privileges and expenses that cover nearly every expenditure they make complain that their wage is "not enough".

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

 

[Salt n Vinegar]

It doesn't happen very often, but last night a member of the audience made a good point about the MP/jobs issue. 

If an MP earns less as from being an MP than, say, from being a 'consultant', a company board member, or a QC, which source of income is ACTUALLY the "second" job? 

[Antlion]

But MPs only cost us £0.001 per person per year - and look at all the tourists who visit the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben!

 

 

 

Oh, wait - that bullshit only works when attempting to excuse the royals.

[ICTChris]

David Allen Green blog in defence of having lawyer politicians, but not specifically Geoffrey Cox - https://davidallengreen.com/2021/11/do-we-really-want-lawyer-politicians/

I would be very sceptical about a lot of these consultancy gigs.  Looking at the list of people they are hardly the most impressive bunch, the only reason most of them are being paid thousands for a few hours work is that they are MPs.  

[Scorge]

The real problem now is that the concept of politics as a vocation and a calling instead of a career has largely bit the dust IMO.

There are bound to be some slightly unorthodox second incomes for some MP's that you can't reasonably do anything bout (eg. presumably Pete Wishart still get the odd PRS cheque for being in Runrig yonks ago), but double jobbers like Dross are clearly taking the piss. I'd limit second jobs to public sector work only - if they really want experience of the modern working world they can muck in with the bins, hospitals and DWP call centre queues......

[Michael W]

The Consultancy firm wants 'the name' and the more high profile, the better as it's useful marketing for clients. Even if the MP is pretty useless, it carries some weight. Beyond my comprehension why this is the case, as if said MP were to be hired normally by one of these firms, I'd expect them to be managed out in a couple of years. People are easily dazzled by power, though.

The more nefarious reason they'll pay is for "building relationships" (read: gaining influence). Give some work to a junior minister in the knowledge his department might have an RFP forthcoming at some point and perhaps you might just be his favoured service provider...

Edited November 12, 2021 by Michael W

[williemillersmoustache]

The issue or defence constantly served up is that these consultancies didn't directly benefit the client, the "no sporting advantage" defence." It's why the bar should be and is elsewhere that there should be no "apparent bias" inferred rather than actual demonstrable bias which is enormously difficult to prove. 

Basically if you're doing work while an MP it should not only be whiter than white but look like it too, as any suggestion or hint of special access or favours brings parliament as a whole into disrepute. 

As an example, who in their right mind would pay Chris Grayling for advice? Painfully obvious this is about access, and insider info, which in any reasonable system would be verboten. 

[G51]

You do wonder what it is that the Tories have done to piss off the press. An absolute avalanche of corruption and second job stories with no end in sight. They’ve annoyed the press barons somehow.

[NotThePars]

Incredibly funny that Starmer's only vaguely able to attack (albeit barely at all) the Tories on this because Corbyn sensibly stopped the stupid c**t from taking a lucrative second job 4 years ago.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 hours ago, Scorge said:

The real problem now is that the concept of politics as a vocation and a calling instead of a career has largely bit the dust IMO.

There are bound to be some slightly unorthodox second incomes for some MP's that you can't reasonably do anything bout (eg. presumably Pete Wishart still get the odd PRS cheque for being in Runrig yonks ago), but double jobbers like Dross are clearly taking the piss. I'd limit second jobs to public sector work only - if they really want experience of the modern working world they can muck in with the bins, hospitals and DWP call centre queues......

That could be fun, watching those cúnts stretch the definitiion of Public Sector until it squeals.

[Salt n Vinegar]

16 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

That could be fun, watching those cúnts stretch the definitiion of Public Sector until it squeals.

They'll be in favour, until someone points out it's "public", not "pubic". 

[Antlion]

1 hour ago, G51 said:

You do wonder what it is that the Tories have done to piss off the press. An absolute avalanche of corruption and second job stories with no end in sight. They’ve annoyed the press barons somehow.

Johnson and his pals know that the media will come round come election time; I doubt the Tories en masse are too bothered by the current negative press.

[Ric]

I posted something about this in the "trust a tory" thread, if you don't mind I'll just repost that here..

On 11/11/2021 at 11:44, Ric said:

Could I also add in how much I'm loving the way in which lawyers who earn millions of pounds working a second job, yet somehow try to spin it that they need to keep their hand in at work so they "don't lose touch" with the lives their constituents live.

It is a fantastic piece of bullshit that contains such large flaws you could drive a horse and cart down the middle, however what is mirthful is the idea that Cox's constituents are all high powered lawyers dealing with foreign governments and doing so from their Common's office.

We have had Dominic Grieve, ex tory and no lover of Johnson and Co and who held the post before Cox, going on the radio claiming it's very hard life for MPs and that it's terrible that men in the 50s could be dumped at the ballot box and somehow have no way to live. The absolute irony of that claim coming from a tory, the sheer brassneck of trying to spin highly paid and highly connected people will somehow be struggling because they did their job badly is a problem is outstanding, quite incredible really.

Many will know I have worked in the past developing web apps, for some of the largest companies in the country too, if I did my job badly, I'd be sacked. The idea that MPs are somehow special is insulting to every other worker in the land. What's more, if that web app was, for example, about insurance, I wouldn't be allowed to work a second job as an insurance consultant in order for me to understand insurance - which is the root of the Grieve's claim. Aside from my contract most likely not allowing me a second job, the obvious answer would be to bring in an expert and discuss it with them, because that's how business works.

It's a fucking mess from top to bottom and the painfully transparent attempts to blame the system, blame society, blame low MPs wages (!), blame... oh, whoever the f**k they want because it's all deflection, mitigation, gaslighting and all round taking the piss, are, very transparent.