Are We Really Led By Donkeys?
Good Morning,
My highlight of this week is the sting we all may have seen involving an organisation called ‘Led By Donkeys’ and senior UK Politicians.
Former cabinet members Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng are facing a backlash after being duped by a fake company into revealing how much they would charge per day for freelance consultancy.
A bogus overseas company, made up by campaign group Led By Donkeys, contacted around 20 MPs to ask whether they would work for a non-existent international advisory board of the fictional Hanseong Consulting.
In taped interviews, both Hancock and Kwarteng ask for payments of around £10,000 a day for their consulting work, which they appear to have intended to take on in addition to their full-time parliamentary roles.
The pair were left red-faced after the interview tapes were released by the campaign group, prompting a backlash from the opposition - with Labour's shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire calling for the MPs involved to lose the whip.
“Being an MP is a full-time job," she said. “Tory MPs should not be using their taxpayer funded offices to line their own pockets."
There is no accusation of wrongdoing - sitting MPs are permitted to have second jobs in addition to their role as an MP, provided they are not a minister.
What did we learn?
In my personal opinion, we need to have a larger national conversation about the MP pay packages and the rule about second Jobs. I don’t believe in the mantra of paying MPs as little as possible because it only incentivises them to seek further employment, however, regardless of how much MPs are paid, there are some that will still look to earn more because they want more money.
There is a balance to the found here and the tension won’t satisfy everyone but should be found. in a cost-of-living crisis, it is an insult to see your mp negotiating 60K for a few days of work, cashing in on his role as a public servant. However, with a number of the MPs in question stepping down at the next general election, what do MPs do after they have been MPs? They still have a good 30 years of working life. What’s next for them? I’m not sure about you but I would love to see a documentary detailing the life of MPs after they step away from frontline politics.
Can anyone imagine Kwasi Kwateng as a maths teacher in a local comprehensive?
Have a a great week
M.T. Omoniyi
Rory Sutherland: Our Property System In The UK Is Broken // Common Sense Pod Clips
In this short excerpt taken from #CommonSensePodcast, Mike and Rory Sutherland Discuss why house prices are so expensive in the UK and how prices may actually go down.
Be sure to check out the full episode here: Rory Sutherland: STOP Taxing Young People On First $100,000
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Have a fantastic week,
Common Sense Network
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