MPs’ second jobs: the battle for ‘real world’ representatives

In politics, when it rains, it pours. That is at least, what Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng discovered last week. The former government ministers, both recently ejected from successive Conservative cabinets, found themselvesexposed asking for around £10,000 a day in payments for consulting work for a fake South Korean firm. Both MPs have now insisted they were following the rules, because having a high-paying second job is allowed as an MP – just ask Boris Johnson, who has earned nearly £5mn in speeches since leaving office. It is, nonetheless, evident why Led By Donkeys ran this sting operation: there is a belief in the media that the public disapproves of second-jobbing MPs, and they are probably right. A quick glance at the polling suggests that the public is opposed to MPs earning money for work outside of their Commons and constituency duties. Over half of Britons disapprove of MPs having a second job, something that Hancock experienced himself when almost two-thirds of the country thought he was wrong to appear on reality TV, while still an MP.

Exposing MPs with second jobs is more than an innocent attempt to hold the House of Commons to account for their rules; it is a route for criticizing the Conservative Party’s credibility, which, as the name suggests, was most likely the motivating factor for Led By Donkeys. It is not a surprise that they overwhelmingly targeted Conservative MPs with their scam consulting company. The question is: why would anti-government groups not use second jobs as a weapon against the Conservatives? It was, after all, the revelations of Owen Paterson lobbying on behalf of his second job that caused a drop in their polling support and began the slow disintegration of Boris Johnson’s premiership. With the Conservative Party the dominant source of second-jobbing MPs, it is a potential goldmine for attacks on a party that is already struggling to be perceived as having integrity.

Crucially, though, it is not just about simply having a second job: reporting on MPs who work for consultancy firms or sit in boardrooms also helps to strengthen the narrative that the Conservatives are out of touch with the British people. Therein lies a double standard, that MPs who make earnings from jobs that are instead perceived as relatable to the British public, do not come under criticism for the potentially long hours they are spending away from their duties as a member of parliament. Take Rosena Allin-Khan, who has in the past year made thousands of pounds working as a doctor in the NHS, alongside her work as an MP and her position shadow cabinet. Rehman Christi, for instance, has worked as a British Army Reservist since being elected. Public polling suggests the public supports MPs having these second jobs, and they subsequently do not face the criticism that has befallen Boris Johnson, Geoffrey Cox, and now Kwarteng and Hancock.

That some second jobs are more equal than others demonstrates the new trend in British politics, that the public wants MPs that represent the real world, and not what they identify as the elite. Like many things in modern British politics, this can be traced back to Nigel Farage and Brexit. The politician who led UKIP to millions of votes in European and British elections played on the idea of a London elite who were keeping Britain locked in the European Union, and on British and European representatives who never had any “proper jobs”. This narrative has now infiltrated British politics. Keir Starmer is endlessly attacked by the Conservatives for being “just another lefty lawyer”, and the Labour leader repays the favour, citing Rishi Sunak’s wealth to call him out of touch. On a more fundamental level, the pressure to have representatives come from the ‘real world’ of their constituents now impacts the selection and election of MPs. The 107 newly elected Conservative MPs at the last general election are a case in point. They were significantly more state-educated than previous intakes of MPs and included high-profile candidates from working-class backgrounds, such as the former coal miner and now Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson. The likes of Rosena Allin-Khan and Rehman Christi escape criticism for their second means of income because these forces have declared them to be ‘real world’ jobs, which means that this work can improve their ability to tackle ‘real world’ issues in Parliament. There is arguably, however, a lurking danger in demonising all that is perceived as elite and far removed from the British public. Just as MPs who work as doctors or reservists can argue that their work enables a greater contribution to health or defence policy, so could Kwasi Kwarteng and Matt Hancock have argued that a second job with a South Korean consultancy company would improve their legislative input on foreign policy in East Asia.

The Conservatives may try to point to a hypocrisy at the heart of the second job debate, but so long as the Tories have a fundamental problem with the public perception of their integrity, the Conservatives will be unable to escape criticisms of their MPs’ finances. The Labour Party is winning the argument over integrity and accordingly Rishi Sunak’s attempts to highlight the millions of pounds of donations from the labour unions to Labour MPs have failed to significantly move the dial of public support away from striking workers or the Labour Party. The public does care about the finances of politicians, the parliamentary expenses scandal was enough proof of that, but MPs and their second jobs have been reduced to only one weapon in the fight to win the next general election. Led By Donkeys has won this battle by embarrassing a group of Tory MPs and undermining Rishi Sunak’s attempts to restore the Conservative Party’s electoral chances. It remains to be seen who will win the war.

Featured image: UK Parliament on Flickr