Comment: MPs' second jobs invite a conflict of interest
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Wednesday, 01, Jul 2009 12:00
MPs claim their second jobs help them stay in touch with real life Britain. So why are so many of them directorships?
By Tamasin Cave
Second jobs, so we are told, help MPs to stay in touch with the real world and the needs of constituents. Outside experience, it's argued, helps create a House more representative of the public.
David Cameron was quick to claim he is "relaxed" about more details of his shadow Cabinet's outside earnings being made public this week under new transparency rules: "I do not think that a chamber full of professional politicians with no outside experience is a good thing," he said.
Glossing over the fact that George Osborne's entry on the Conservative website reads very much like that of a career politician ("after a short spell as a freelance journalist… he has since dedicated himself wholly to politics"), the question that needs to be asked is: "outside experience" of what?
The impression we are given is that the House of Commons is full of dentists (there is one); grave diggers (again, just the one), farmers, newspaper columnists and authors.
However, a quick look at the Register of Members' Interests – prior to shadow Cabinet MPs ditching their directorships before the new rules came in – reveals just how unrepresentative these MPs are.
William Hague, has been employed by private equity group Terra Firma since at least 2002; Oliver Letwin has had a long-term relationship with bankers Rothschild; Francis Maude is paid to advise Barclays; Andrew Mitchell, Merchant bank Lazards; Kenneth Clarke, private equity firm AgCapita Partners. The list is long.
In what way do these jobs represent the experience – and interests – of the public? Where are those with experience of education? On that last point we'll leave aside shadow children's minister Tim Loughton, whose firm sells surveillance equipment to schools, surely representing a serious conflict of interest. Where are the techies, the public transport experts, the policemen?
What a disproportionate number of the Tory front bench MP have is outside experience of the City. The very justified concern is that they think like the money men, with an inability to see the financial sector through the same eyes as the rest of us. The concern is only compounded by the fact that half of the shadow cabinet are directly funded by hedge fund managers and private equity bosses.
It's not like the sector needs extra representation. According to a recent report commissioned by the OECD, the UK ranks just behind Switzerland for the number of people passing through the revolving door between the City and its regulators. And as we speak, the hedge fund industry is amassing a sizeable 'war chest' to lobby against proposed regulation.
The Tory machine has been quick to reframe the issue of second jobs as one of valuable experience over conflicts of interest. But we should reflect on what we see rather than what we are told. Why else have transparency?
Tamasin Cave is a freelance writer and editor, for among others PR watchdog SpinWatch (www.spinwatch.org). She also leads the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency campaign for a mandatory register of lobbyists in the UK (www.lobbyingtransparency.org).
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