Posted by Hari on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 with 1 comment | Labels: Cameron, elections, jobs, Labour, Miliband, MP, pay, politicians, the government, Tories
SOURCE DAILY MAIL: MPs'
salary of £67,000 is not enough for the standard of living I'm ENTITLED to,
says Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind as he defends his second jobs after 'cash for
access' sting
Labour’s Jack Straw and the Tories’ Sir Malcolm Rifkind were
secretly filmed discussing how they could use their contacts to benefit a private
Chinese company and both boasted about charging at least £5,000-a-day. In the
conversation with the undercover reporters Sir Malcolm was filmed discussing
that his usual fee was 'somewhere in the region of £5,000 to £8,000' for half a
day's work. Straw told undercover reporters he would expect £5,000 per day. MPs
earn £67,060-a-year, but Sir Malcolm claimed this was not enough for someone of
his professional background. Challenged about why he does not do voluntary work
to provide experience of the world outside politics, Sir Malcolm told BBC Two's
Daily Politics: 'I have two objectives, I have to have that broader hinterland
as you so nicely describe it, but I do also want to have the standard of living
that my professional background would normally entitle me to have.' Defending
his position, Sir Malcolm said there were 'about 200' MPs who had business
interests and insisted many members of the public did not want 'full-time
politicians'. He said that 'many ex-ministers, former chancellors, home
secretaries, prime ministers, as well as other people, have served on advisory
boards' and insisted it was 'entirely proper'. Jack Straw, the Blackburn MP,
told how he had used his influence to change EU rules on behalf of a private
company he already works for and declares an interest in. He also claimed to
have used 'charm and menace' to persuade the Ukrainian prime minister to change
laws on behalf of the commodity firm, which pays him £60,000 a year. Mr Straw,
68, said he would not take on the role while he remained an MP, but could be
more helpful if he were to become a peer in the House of Lords after the
election.
OUR RELATED STORIES
As top flight 'Westminster Creatures' these two dishonoured 'Honourables' must surely indicate that Westminster attracts the wrong kind of individual or degrades its intake regardless of initial state. Either way WESTMINSTER THE ENEMY. But Westminster is a citadel with layered ramparts of devious 'regulation'. To try to penetrate it with 'rule of law' is to be reduced to impotent despair.
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