Backhander: another problem with MPs taking second jobs is that they don’t declare any interest when taking part in debates – you have to look up their details in the House of Commons Register of Interests to find out about it.
The film series in which Led By Donkeys exposes MPs who are happy to neglect their first duty – to their constituents – for a second job with a (fake) foreign firm has won huge public interest since its trailer debuted yesterday.
But let’s remember one thing while we’re looking at Tory MPs trying to get their noses in the trough:
Labour’s leader is no better.
In 2017, Keir Starmer was blocked from taking a second job with law firm Mishcon de Reya – by then-party leader Jeremy Corbyn (a man with better principles than all the MPs mentioned in the Led By Donkeys research, put together).
Nowadays, it seems he likes to say he was only “in discussion” with that firm – as though it doesn’t mean he was talking with its people about working for them. Watch him get contradicted by a Sky News reporter here:
"You were in talks to take a job yourself."
"No I wasn't. I was in discussion."@Keir_Starmer is a duplicitous fraud 🧵 https://t.co/0gTDqgbgC1 pic.twitter.com/bG9QPkOt8s
— The Agitator (@Agitate4Change) March 26, 2023
I wonder how Sky News will be treated by a future Labour government, considering the way Starmer has abused and persecuted dissenters in his own party?
A huge problem with MPs having second jobs – besides the fact that it reduces their work for constituents to a part-time hobby – is that it makes them employees of organisations that may (and many do) wish to influence politics in the UK. But that isn’t the only way it can be done.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has said the party will end the scandal of MPs’ second jobs – as though that will be the end of the corruption.
What about the donations she (along with other Labour MPs) takes from pro-Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn? As matters stand, there is no reason they shouldn’t take his money – but what are they obliged to do in return?
What about MP’s accepting donations from Israeli lobbyists? Will you put an end to that racket? I expect not. You Hypocrite ! pic.twitter.com/V6cyGNtNIP
— Marshman 🇵🇸 🇮🇷🇸🇾🇱🇧🇾🇪 🗻 (@exmoordog) March 26, 2023
Here’s a ray of hope, though: fortunately some MPs still remember the reason they were elected to Parliament, and are prepared to point out the failings of their fellow representatives. Here’s Zarah Sultana:
"From gifts, dinners and trips abroad to donations from the super rich & second jobs from big businesses. This web of influence is aimed to do one thing, to get this house to work for the wealthy few and not the people we're elected to serve"
Spot on, @zarahsultana pic.twitter.com/5FCdmEYBRn
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 26, 2023
Needless to say, she has been sidelined by Starmer.
Another backbencher, sidelined by Starmer, is Richard Burgon – whose Private Members’ Bill to ban MPs from having second jobs is currently going through the Parliamentary process:
My Bill banning MPs from having Second Jobs has not only been drafted but has been laid in the House of Commons.
The Government could choose to pass it and implement it in a matter of days.
Instead the Tories repeatedly blocked it. We can see why!pic.twitter.com/JLnUnlPm8u
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) March 25, 2023
He has spoken forcefully about the issue in the House of Commons:
"We hear of some MPs briefing newspapers that they're going to stand down if they can't have second jobs because £82,000 a year isn't enough. I say to those MPs, good riddance, go! Our democracy does not need you"@RichardBurgon. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/udguuY1c2E
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 26, 2023
How many of you expect this excellent legislation to be filibustered out of existence by the usual Tory suspects?
None of this should be allowed to override the main point of the Led By Donkeys exposure, though – that sitting MPs are demanding huge amounts of money to shill for commercial interests while their constituents suffer in poverty and hunger.
Let’s have a look at some of the figures:
£1,500 per hour for Hancock
£14 per hour for junior doctors.
Time for society to decide who’s more important
— Geo-Politics Lecturer (@GeoPolLecturer) March 26, 2023
Doctors are asking for £19 and hour for their day job.
Ex-health sec Matt Hancock is asking for £1500 an hour for a second job.
But, of course, we are the "greedy ones."
— Dr Benjamin Janaway (@drjanaway) March 25, 2023
Hancock: I want £1,500 an hour
Kwarteng: I want £1,250 an hour@RobLaurensonD4P Junior doctors want £19 an hour pic.twitter.com/Xqwu60sY9y
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) March 26, 2023
It’s corruption fuelled by greed, pure and simple.
And the fact is that it will continue because there is no way to compel MPs to stop.
Or will the tide of public opinion be enough to make these avaricious pigs lift their snouts from the trough and do the right thing – for fear of being ousted at the next election?
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