SNP MPs could put Conservatives into top Commons jobs – but will they?

Last Updated: June 2, 2015By

Now, this is interesting!

Tory MPs are crawling to the SNP for support in their bids to get £15,000-a-year pay rises as chairs of select committees.

There’s no way of knowing who votes for whom – the ballots are secret – but if Conservatives get any of these top jobs, we’ll have some very serious questions to ask the nationalists!

Tory MPs are being accused of hypocrisy for turning to Scottish nationalists for support in landing plum jobs at the House of Commons.

Their plea for help comes despite weeks of Conservative election scaremongering over the “frightening” prospect of Labour cutting backroom deals with the SNP.

Now they are seeking SNP support themselves to chair select committees with an £82,000-a-year salary.

Chairing a select committee is a highly prestigious role that comes with a £15,000-a-year pay rise on top of the standard £67,000 MPs’ salary.

They are chosen by a secret ballot of all MPs at the start of each Parliament.

Source: Tory hypocrites beg SNP for help landing lucrative Commons jobs – weeks after demonising them – Mirror Online

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11 Comments

  1. Andy June 3, 2015 at 10:08 am - Reply

    Nothing untoward about canvassing for support as Chairmanship is not a party appointment but by election on the individual votes of all MPs. For example, the last chaır of the DWP Commıttee was Dame Anne Begg, who was a Labour MP, Margaret Hodge, Accounts Committee too…both of who received high praise from all sides on their skills of commıttee leadership. .

  2. Andy June 3, 2015 at 10:09 am - Reply

    Error!

  3. Joan Edington June 4, 2015 at 11:51 am - Reply

    You simply can’t ignore any possible dig at the SNP, can you Mike? As Andy has said, committee chairmen have always been cross-party and well-mixed. I am glad of that too, since, although the outcomes of investigations may not beat a majority government, it’s often the only way the government’s machinations can get to the general public ear.

    • Mike Sivier June 4, 2015 at 12:22 pm - Reply

      We’ll just see what happens.

  4. Joan Edington June 4, 2015 at 11:54 am - Reply

    I should have added the obvious. If Tories get top jobs, the most likely reason is that Tories voted for them. Duh!

    • Mike Sivier June 4, 2015 at 12:22 pm - Reply

      Then why do they need anybody else’s vote?

      • Andy June 4, 2015 at 12:34 pm - Reply

        Because there maybe more than one candidate for the post?

        • Mike Sivier June 4, 2015 at 3:16 pm - Reply

          Yes indeed – from any party with an MP in Parliament.

          • Andy June 4, 2015 at 4:04 pm

            Indeed, as I pointed out in my first comment in relatıon to two Labour MPs, Anne Begg and Margaret Hodge each chairing a commıttee under the coalition government…….Salmond for Foreign Affairs Commiıttee, anyone?!!

          • Mike Sivier June 4, 2015 at 9:47 pm

            Are you saying Anne Begg and Margaret Hodge wrote begging letters to Tory MPs or Plaid Cymru, or the DUP, in order to chair those committees?
            Let’s see the evidence, then.

          • Andy June 5, 2015 at 7:05 am

            No, not at all. I have no ıdea what canvassıng, if any, they did. My poiınt was that to be the chair of a committee one does not have to be a member of the ruling party.

            No doubt, lıke the forthcomıng election of a Labour Party leader the candidates are free to canvas support among those eligible to vote.

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