Toby Young Toby Young

Mark Simmonds was just saying what a lot of MPs think

It’s one thing to make these sacrifices if the public hold you in high esteem – quite another if they think you’re a crook

Former British Foreign Office minister Mark Simmonds Photo: AP/Getty 
issue 16 August 2014
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I feel some sympathy for Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP who’s resigned as a minister and is stepping down at the end of this Parliament because he can’t support his family. His announcement has been greeted with scorn and derision by the chattering classes — how dare he complain that an MP’s salary isn’t enough to live on? — even though most of them are earning far more than him.

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