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At a press conference, Sir Keir Starmer said his party would ban all second jobs, apart from “public service” roles or professions requiring registration.
The Labour leader said this included MPs working as NHS doctors and nurses, or in the police and as Army reservists.
He had called the conference to set out his party’s position ahead of a debate it had called on the outside jobs issue on Wednesday.
After the press conference, he said Mr Johnson’s plan - which was announced during the briefing - as a “significant victory for the Labour Party”.
"Be under no illusion, the prime minister has only done this U-turn because his back was against the wall," he told reporters.
BJ the Tardy, as ever … Procrastination is one of his middle names …
Starmer, disingenuous as ever. Probably because it affects him and people like him but would exclude say, MP’s writing a book or Newspaper columns. My opinion, there’s nothing wrong with them having a second job so long as it does not involve lobbying for the company you are employed by or industry it is part of.
Good for you. At the risk of being botted again, don’t you think this botting thing is being applied to lterally. Is it triggered automatically or by the Mods?
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, suggested the government could support new guidelines to put limits on the hours of outside work, as she gave a round of broadcast interviews on Wednesday morning.
Trevelyan, a Brexit supporter and ally of Boris Johnson, also defended MPs being able to do some work outside of parliament, saying it added to the “richness” of political life.
There is widespread dissatisfaction on the Tory benches about No 10’s new willingness to curb their earnings, particularly among some of the old guard who have lucrative sideline roles.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a member of the backbench 1922 Committee, who earns extra money from arable farming in Norfolk, told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Clearly the whole issue of standards and the motion tabled before the house and then a complete U-turn, and now this.”
Clifton-Brown said he had “no problem” with a ban on paid consultancy work, but going further could deter people who have “good skills”.
“If you go further, and some in the house do want to go further and ban all second jobs, as I say it will have the effect, as I’ve already said, of deterring people who have good skills outside who are professionals, who actually I think bring quite a lot to the house in terms of their experience,” he said.
Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) holds six consultancy jobs, supporting investment banks and accountancy firms. He has registered more than £180,000 for 34.5 days’ work. Or an average of well under 5.5 hours per week & that assumes a full 8 hour day!!
Julian Smith (Conservative) is earning £144,000 for 62-84 hours’ work for three companies, including advising on energy and renewable fuels. 84 hours = under 13 hours per week.
Mark Garnier (Conservative) is paid to sit on the advisory boards of two companies in the space and satellite industry, committing 20 hours a month for an annual payment of £90,000.
10 - 15 hours a week, would allow most of the grubbiest MP’s to continue as normal, where a ban on them carrying out certain things on behalf of companies would stop them.
You may well have pointed it out before, but just like the Media with the news, if its Labour indiscretions they get a small paragraph or to in some obscure corner of the paper, if its the Conservatives its blazoned all over the front page.
In addition, by the way I don’t read every post on every thread you make. there aren’t enough hours in the day. I do think this bot business though is being carried to extreme and is probably being used to silence opinions you dont like.
Yeah, I can control the ads by known script source restricting, but the bots do not appear via a script form that can’t be tampered with🤷♂️
My time in OFF has been cut by over 75%
Hi all, can we keep the thread on-topic please - it’s really not fair on the OP or those taking part in the original discussion. You can always tap on the timestamp at the top right of a post and click on +New Thread to create a linked thread. Thanks!
Under the government’s plan any outside role, paid or unpaid, should be “within reasonable limits” and not stop MPs fully serving their constituents.
This is yet to be defined, but International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has suggested 15 hours a week as a reasonable limit.
In a statement after the vote, the government said MPs had backed updating the code of conduct for MPs.
“This means that MPs will be banned from acting as paid political consultants or lobbyists and that MPs are always prioritising their constituents,” it said. “This will strengthen our parliamentary system and we will work on a cross-party basis to achieve this.”
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government had provided “warm words” instead of a “plan of action”.
His party wanted the standards committee to draw up new rules by 31 January to implement the ban on MPs working as political consultants. And if the government did not then offer MPs a vote on these rules within 15 days, backbench MPs would gain the power to force one.
Under the government’s plan, the committee would come up with recommendations by the same date, but steps for implementing the recommendations are not set out.
Labour ordered its MPs not to take part in the vote on the government’s amendment, meaning it was passed by 297 to zero.
The vote comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson again admitted it had been a “mistake” to try and overhaul the standards system at the same time as potentially saving Owen Paterson from punishment for breaking the existing rules on second jobs.
But the PM stopped short of apologising for the debacle, during a grilling by select committee chairs at the Commons Liaison Committee.
Bj’s policy is, as ever, to procrastinate - fill the space with empty words and inaction, bluffing and blustering to cover his incompetence …
At the risk of being botted again, don’t you think this botting thing is being applied to lterally. Is it triggered automatically or by the Mods?
