Other than fees for media appearances, the most common sources of income involve selling access in ways big and small. With exceptions-such as Rosena Allin-Khan, a Labour shadow minister who works shifts as a doctor, and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Tory MP and farmer-few MPs have jobs entirely unrelated to politics. Three MPs earned £960 performing on stage in a “parliamentary rock band” called MP4. Dean Russell, a Tory MP, was paid £750 by Gareth Bacon, a colleague, for a painting. In the register of members’ financial interests, it is revealed that Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, received £1,356 ($1,820) for serving as an assistant referee at a Europa League football match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Benfica.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, has a job at a firm making alcohol-free hand sanitiser-and chaired a task force that recommended clarifying the covid-19 rules on hand sanitiser.Ī study published in 2015 found that voters were more sympathetic to work that paid less, of which there is plenty. Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative MP, has attracted attention because of his work for a mining firm while acting as trade envoy to Mongolia. According to a poll by YouGov, 63% of Britons believe no such work should be allowed-let alone jobs that trade on insider knowledge.Ĭhief among the MPs now in the spotlight is Sir Geoffrey Cox, a former attorney-general, who has been reported to the Committee on Standards in Public Life ( CSPL), a watchdog, for defending the British Virgin Islands in a corruption inquiry, apparently from his Westminster office. A fifth of MPs have a second job (defined as one which pays regular wages) and two-fifths declare income from some form of extra-parliamentary work. Parliamentarians are allowed to profit from their position, including by acting as consultants to firms looking for political advice, so long as they declare the income received and do not lobby, as Mr Paterson did. The problem is that the rules are out of step with public opinion.
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