Excellent, coherent, very sober and utterly depressing interview on this subject on Radio 2 yesterday by Matthew Parris (who is very much in-the-know, so to speak).
in a nutshell...
MPs work on average a 69 hour week (plenty of studies on this).
If you
extrapolate their hourly rate, they get less than London Tube drivers, teachers, doctors...the list is long.
what does this mean.
Successful career people, with significant lifetime acheivements are no longer applying to become MPs. Why not? Because such people know their self worth and do not get out of bed in the morning for a stressful, long-hour, relationship damaging job like being an MP for the sort of peanuts that are on offer at the moment.
As Parris put it, what we are now getting in the applications for all parties are:
- Young "techno-politicians" with zero life/work experience.
- Rich people operating out of self interest or celebrity motivation.
- Failed business/career people looking for a way back.
In other words we are filling government with low grade politicians and, worse still, we know we are doing it.
You'd think educated people would be able to get their heads round this...no??
PS
I'm an ex RAF Squadron Leader and a retired Managing Director. I have two degrees, a decent IQ and I shin up mountains (usually alone) at every opportunity. I think I would make a tolerably decent MP.
As the consultant I now am I charge myself at at £50 per hour. Doing the math based on a 6 week holiday....50X69X46 = circa £158000 per annum. That's what I would do it for...ducy we are shooting off our own feet?