Harman's cunning plan could hit her own side

Alpha Romeo Mike

"brighter Labour (ex-)minister(s)" Fraser? Whats one of them then?

luke

Or perhaps she just believes MPs should be full-time?

I certainly do.

Forlornehope

Typical aristo trying to drive the workers out of parliament.

oldtimer

Would this also apply to Members of the House of Lords - as in the bending the rules case? And when is a job not a job? Will it preclude MPs from writing or broadcasting for a fee? I can see that idea flyimg like a lead balloon.

Sounds like a lot of twaddle to me. But then we cannot discount the possibility of Brown, yet again, triangulating himself up his own backside. It seems to be a unique talent.

Rhoda Klapp

This is pathetic. I thought there was supposed to be an economic crisis, and all these people can do is squabble.

Please hoist in the simple truth that it doesn't matter how many jobs these drones have, we only have the right to expect them to do the one WE pay for properly. That is the only criterion by which they should be weighed, and boy are they found wanting.

chris

Have a look at Nottingham. Unlikely that they will need to, but just imagine how and where this sorry lot of MPs would ever find alternative employment. They probably aren't that bothered, but if I were a Labour MP I'd start looking for a second (or third) job now, before the've all gone together with their seat.

I wrote to 10 and 11 Downing Street last Monday asking Brown and Darling to resign, by Friday. In my letter I wondered who would be taking up their jobs, and your blog, Fraser reminds us who this would be and probably explains why the pair of them did not respond to my request.

Nicholas

If only this risible "government" spent half as much time thinking of "cunning plans" in the best interests of all the people of this once great nation rather than in party political gerrymandering and sniping against the opposition - the opposition for goodness sake!

It really does highlight their moral, intellectual and ideological bankruptcy. Truly dire.

-50 out of 10 Gordon & Harriet, F-, go to the back of the class.

Praguetory

Party before country every time.

jon dee

As long as its only MPs,its alright then.

I thought for one minute you were going to mention the House of Lords.Phew.

Fred

If she proposed a law that MPs had to have a real job for 10 years before becoming an MP, that would get my support.

Fraser Nelson

Alpha, i define a bright Labour minister as anyone who COULD get a second job. Many of them could not.

Luke, I dont mind backbenchers getting a second job, it keeps them in touch with the real world. But I disagree with Shadow Cabinet members doing it, as it then becomes a third job. All their attention should be set on opposing the government.

John Miller

She's just trying to do a Blair and be all things to all men - oops sorry! - persons.

Goes down a bomb with the lefties, the rich in the Party don't care and Polly the honorary Labour Party Chairperson and fellow aristo will love it

jennywren

So many people have more than one job today that it seems very out of step to deny MP's the right.
Besides, they need to do something in the real world, otherwise they might get out of touch (no really.....)

Chuck Unsworth

Actually it is really absurd to make this attempt. Where does it stop - has she even thought about that? For example - define 'job'. Is that the same as part time work, the occasional paid article, the odd (in all senses) consultancy, an income from the interest of a vast fortune?

Harman always leads from the lips. Her brain and her mouth are entirely out of synch.

James J

Maybe she would also like to ban anyone who has ever worked outside politics from standing as an MP.
They could design a career path.PPE followed by three years working for an MP or MEP and then
” Chartered Politician” status.

Coeur de Lion

we have suffered for years from socialist MPs who are sometime civil servants, leftie lecturers, whatever, who have never run a whelk stall with its profit and loss calculations. So let's make sure that new politicians have day jobs.

Travis Bickle

Luke

I beg to differ, how much better this country would be had this meddling lot done absolutely nothing since 1997, but whilst the economy goes to hell in a handcart they still tinker for tinkering's sake. If ever the danger of senior politicians never having had the experience of earning a living in the real world is there for all to see then the NuLabour project should be held up as a shining beacon of people not understanding the implications of their actions. And still they can't stop themselves!

THX1138

Fraser- How touching that you think that the average Tory MP can live on a ministerial salary!

TrevorsDen

Luke - the more time MPs have on their hands the worse the country performs.

We have a government - which ought to be advised by a Civil Service. Trouble is this Civil Service has gone native. Just what's been going on in the Treasury the last 11 years?

No doubt govts - not least pernicious socialist ones - would like to see MPs stuck in the Westminster bubble, without a clue about whats happening in the real world.

What is wrong Mr Luke is the 'reforms of parliament which turned it into a 9 to 5 job with an expense account on the side, to suit a vast army of lefty academics and harridan mothers -- instead of a group of real people who did things in the real world and then ran the country after 7 PM.

James

Why not outlaw all of us from having second jobs? After all a struggling worker on minimum wage who happens to work for a Govt Dept (and they do exist) who is forced to take on another job to support his/her family cannot possibly be giving their all to their primary employer, can they?
Well of course they can! This is a non-sensical argument, and one that becomes entirely moot upon entering Government when the Minister will have to devote all their time to that job, as always happens.
As you rightly point out, the only people likely to be affected by this ridiculous law are labour MPs after the next election. So I say the Tories should support this wholeheartedly and then repeal it the moment they look like losing power!

Verity

Posed pic. Who's the silly moo waving at? I cannot imagine anyone waving at her first.

Is she in her kelvar gear under those clothes, or is she really that lardy?

Annabel Herriott

"Let them eat cake!"

Fraser Nelson

THX1138, most of the shadow cabinet are millionaires so they'll have to eat into their capital ;)

Verity

TrevorsDen - Agreed. When Parliament, under Blair, went native was when it all began to unravel. Legislating bodies elsewhere in the world, and in Britain prior to Princess Tony and his charming consort, the manatee, do not keep business hours. They argue and debate and fight their corners into the night. No one turns off the lights in the US Senate at 5:30. (Well, maybe at 5:30 a.m., to let the cleaners in.)

Hawkeye

She could do Cameron a great favour by proposing this as he proposed something similar for his own sahdow cabinet a few weeks back.

Cameron might even support Harman on this...

THX1138

Fraser _If most of the shadow cabinet are millionaires they shouldn't be worrying about giving up their second jobs should they!

How many of the shadow cabinet became millionaires thanks to their own efforts? Certainly not the two W11 trustafarians Dave & George. I doubt a bit of lite wonking paid for Georges big West LDN house, more like daddies wallpaper business.

Tim Carpenter LPUK

Harman focusing on the second jobs of the Opposition while ignoring the performance of the Cabinet's FIRST job, which is to serve the electorate, her included.

The last thing we need is to entrench the career politician. Harman is an Enemy Within the Gates.

Lola

For Heaven's sake, woman, just stop meddling.

Personally I reckon that making MP's were only able to 'work' at being MP's would limit the damage they could do. And real world experience is vital in the formation of MP's.

Verity

The first parliament in the world was the Icelandic one, called, rather charmingly, The Thingi.

It only met two or three times a year and, get this, if they thought they didn't really have enough to discuss at one of the rare upcoming sessions, they cancelled it.

Once a country gets obsessive politicians busy being politicians all day and all night, the whole thingi goes to hell in a handcart.