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A potentially awkward start for the new Tory leader – politicalbetting.com
A potentially awkward start for the new Tory leader – politicalbetting.com
Tory MPs consider resigning over Labour’s second job crackdown https://t.co/tXcdt1xpjX pic.twitter.com/JoesZIJOVy
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So I'd hope that the second job ban proposals are both well considered and fair.
Where MPs want to retain professional standards in areas such as law or medicine I see no real issue. If their additional income is corrupting then we have a problem. But the problem is that we will just get a ban on “second jobs” without much rationale or detailed thinking as to what that means in practice.
On the other hand, being an opposition MP is a pretty rubbish job, especially if you're not particularly into all the community advice stuff. Even more so when the government majority is well into three figures. And the contrast between being a minister and being an opposition backbencher is the coldest of cold baths.
But there's a reason that very few Conservative MPs ran with this story- it's been almost entirely the baby of the commentators. That's because MPs could see where it would end up.
I think something similar could work for MPs but as with all these things they need to submit to robust oversight, which seems to be a problem for them.
Geoffrey Cox working on a legal case in Mauritius during the vote on WFA for example, clearly was his second job interfering with his elected role.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/11/geoffrey-cox-missed-winter-fuel-votes-working-abroad-second-job-tories
Whoever writes it.
It should be entirely up to an MP's constituents whether or not they want to elect a part timer.
There's plenty of stuff I disapprove of that I wouldn't ban. This is just more legislation for virtue signalling; balls to it.
1 For jobs where some ongoing work is required to maintain professional registration, MPs can do that work pro bono.
2 If that is seen as excessively puritan, do a survey of the professional bodies to find out what "ongoing registration" work looks like and would be paid. Find the highest income from that, double that, and set the cap on outside income there.
Unfortunately, the feedback loop of "bad MPs suffer reputational damage at the next election" is too slow and too weak to work in any but the very worst cases.
And the immediate effect is no one who requires CPD to maintain their professional qualifications will be able to stand for Parliament.
(I dislike Farage, and think many MPs hold far too few surgeries - albeit sometimes with good reasons. But don't expect him to automagically start holding surgeries if he is banned from TV.)
At just £80k a year with his needy young wife and manifold children, Johnson would struggle. Lady Bamford would have the Daylesford Organics van on call 24/7!
...let's dispense with the misty-eyed absurdity that you can vote for an openly racist Trump, but you'd like it known that you don't support racism. ..
https://x.com/stuartpstevens/status/1845640785833714002
Writing and speaking are the job of an MP, not something he or she should be doing on the side. If an MP wants to write a piece, and a newspaper publish it, then fine, but there’s no need for there to be a financial incentive to the MP. It’s a severe blurring of the already very blurred lines between politics and journalism.
As an aside, MPs should be able to have hobbies, and should be able to earn a little from those hobbies if they want or can. In fact, I'd argue that may make them more well-rounded.
If you have a choice of say 3 Reform MPS in your enlarged constituency alongside various other parties, you can vote for the hardworking one and withhold your vote from the lazy or distracted one, and still get a Reform MP into parliament.
It removes the dilemma of voting for an arse or lazybones because otherwise you’d let in the other lot.
The best way I can think of to implement the change is to cap the hours and pay for second jobs. No more than 10 hours a week for no more than 25% of the MP's salary, something like that, but exact figures could be whatever. That would allow someone to do enough to keep a skill alive, but would put a stop to most of the piss-taking.
But then, what would the sanction be? Suspension from the Commons? That feels draconian and unnecessary. So I would leave it to the voters.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/no-surgeries-for-14-years-is-sir-stuart-bell-britain-s-laziest-mp-2350953.html
The principle of legislating to ban lazy MPs isn't rationally defensible. If the electorate are going to subcontract their choices back to the legislature, then they're not interested in democracy.
But the bottom line is simple. If a snazzy makeover is enough to buy an MP (and some people seem convinced that it is), what does £large for appearing on a loss-making TV station, or offering advice to whoevercorp get you?
But this is pretty well definitional of Trump; treating it as just one of "all sorts of things" isn't so much daft, as delusional.
Trump: I’ll put a 100%, 200%, or 500% tax on imported goods. I don’t care
https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1845475375196811744
Wouldnt they be in a better position to answer to answer the question than a middle aged white bloke 3500 miles away who cant vote ?
"For the first time in the last 48 (!) days, the night passed without "Shaheds" in Ukraine."
https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1845710271001624924
Osborne said the worst thing Rishi Sunak did as prime minister was cancelling the northern arm of HS2. “It was an act of infrastructure vandalism,” he said
Guardian
https://bsky.app/profile/pravda.ua/post/3l64eax2zd324
There would still be awkward corner cases under your proposal -- how do you account for e.g. getting royalties off writing a book, where the income arriving is disconnected in time from the time when you did the work and the amount of income is unpredictable?
HS2 has been a "how many ways can you screw this up" smorgasbord of government infrastructure investment failure -- sensible idea massively mismanaged and messed about with by civil service and politicians. If the government are serious about investing for growth they need to look at how to avoid repeats...
"Australia does not want to become a republic under King Charles, poll suggests" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/10/13/australia-not-want-to-become-republic-under-king-charles/
HS2 should have been open by now. As should Heathrow’s new runway, the Stonehenge Tunnel, Brylglas Tunnel bypass, A9 dualling etc etc. the Crossrail team should have moved straight from that project to the next Crossrail project, and have been digging tunnels for the past two years.
As the famous saying goes, take a decision then just f……. do it! Have one decision, one vote in Parliament on the whole project, then turn up again when the King cuts the ribbon.
Perhaps it's a blend of the two, like in employment I can do outside work paid or unpaid as long as I declare it and it isn't in conflict with my day job. That ought to rule out "consultancy" but shouldn't rule out the sort of IT Consultancy I do if the aim is to keep au fait with the latest developments in the sector.
Gifts will become ever more popular. Wonder how long before utility companies start giving free water and gas to MPs....
Hours alone won't be the issue - otherwise you will find that the 6 hour a year, non executive directorships will be brought forward to while people are MPs. In the old days, IIRC, unions used to directly pay Labour MPs.
Doing the odd media appearance, or a few hours here and there keeping up with the profession you were trained in, no big deal...doing more hours on your "second" job then your first job, well we have a problem.
The problem is every bodies situation is different. How and where do you draw the line.
It is also like donations to politician parties, the unpalatable option is we just pay MPs a lot more and say no paid seconds. If you need to do a few hours to keep up with your professional status, its unpaid.
https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2021/11/12/honourable-members/
I'm not sure this is the case by the way. I suspect it's just special pleading. But the principle applies. MPs have going rates, like the rest of us
Be careful everyone, this happened in greystones. The lady's daughter was scammed out of €1000, using a QR code that she scanned to pay for parking.
https://x.com/lozzylozboz/status/1845542609281818925
We’ve all got far more pressing issues.
You've also reminded me that privately rich people would be at an advantage in that they won't have to worry about any of this if they want to be an MP, which might skew the balance of people who want to do the job.
And now I'm beginning to realise the flaws of my own simplistic populist solution once faced with reality
But no more than 100 metres from the blast walls below the tower, a rusty metal trapdoor swings open to reveal a tunnel cut deep into the rock. This, the Israeli military says, is the entrance to a Hezbollah attack position. It is one of two within a stone’s throw of a UN base where international soldiers have for years rotated in and out to prevent another war breaking out.
“To build a tunnel like this you need a lot of equipment. You can’t hide it. It’s very odd to us that the UN didn’t see these activities,” General Yiftach, whose division now controls the area, added.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/13/the-un-keeps-peace-in-southern-lebanon-hezbollah-tunnel/
Sounds like they are about as observant as the prison guards looking after Epstein.
Instead build small, build often, build plentiful, build cheap, build wanted, build useful.
Go to every place in the country and ask local people what transport improvements they need.
Not what politicians, bureaucrats and the whole 'process' sector wants.
The bullshit story in the Telegraph about pylons vs buried cables ignored the real point of the report they misquoted - which is that the relative cost of the schemes is mostly determined by how quickly they proceed.
The attempt to turn it into a political argument is very likely to increase any delays.
AIUI, this proposal is out of line with the times. It seems that lots of ordinary people are obliged to earn their living through a portfolio of jobs.
Also, every minister has a second job, which distracts them from their job as an ordinary MP and for which they get paid.
So 2nd jobs work at both ends.
That wise sage was only two months out in his prediction...
If we'd simply gone ahead with HS2 when it was originally proposed, it would be near completion, probably for not a lot more than we've already spent on it.
A government not making infrastructure decisions is probably worse than one which quickly makes a mixture of good and bad decisions. We can't expect governments to be infallible, but we should expect them to get stuff done.
The last decade and a half have been pretty poor in that respect.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3e9yk24w3eo
While at the same time introducing a load of new red tape on workers rights...
Do we have any markets on this yet? Though they will be driven by insiders, of course.
It sounds as if Reform need to get the "build like the Lib Dems" programme off it's backside PDQ, or their window of opportunity may close surprisingly quickly.
4 ranting heads in Parliament, 0.14% of Local Councillors and a couple of self-debased media outlets aren't going to win many seats for them.
Plus will any Reform MPs throw in the towel?
"No, I didn't have a job with X Corp. They just gave me a gift of £1million pounds each Christmas. Because they like me."
"No, I don't work for UNITE. They just send me a pile of cash every now and then because they like me."
EDIT: In the US, the short time between elections for congress mean that most are trying to raise cash non-stop. There was a documentary a little while back - one startling thing was that many congress people spend most of their time in custom offices for their party. Set up for non-stop calling potential donors. Yes, they are telephone salespeople.....
The ultra wealthy congress people who fund their own campaigns are hated by their fellows to an extreme degree....
So maybe tightening the restrictions on jobs and loosening them elsewhere is a good plan.
The Local Plans go through an intense public consultation process with meetings and roadshows so it's not as though people don't have the opportunity to have their say if they want it. I'm not sure I know what this "process" sector is you mention but the Local Plan finally has to be approved by the local elected representatives but said representatives are hamstrung by Government housebuilding quotas.
The Local Plans are often the political faultline - councils of whatever stripe (or none) trying to create plans to meet national housebuilding targets find local opposition from those of all political colours (despite what some on here would have you believe) opposed to further development in their area.
A distressing number of people did it.
See the Balkan wars for peacekeepers not noticing geonicde*. Even when the blood was betting on their uniforms.
*Often of Muslims. But all ethnicities were at both ends of the gun for this....
But according to the White House, hitting targets in Russia is ineffective. Twats.
It was framed as an expedition in search of Sir Stuart Bell.
Viewable on Amazon Prime:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ToryBoy-Movie-DVD-John-Walsh/dp/B008XXVVH2
Also yet another politician, in a long line of them, promising to scrap red tape. It won't happen