PMQs: Second jobs, lobbying and ‘obsessive crackpots’

Ed Miliband boxed cleverer than David Cameron at PMQs today and came out with a comprehensive points victory. Miliband went, predictably, on the whole issue of second jobs for MPs. Cameron, equally predictably, responded that the Labour proposal wouldn’t deal with MPs being paid Union officials. Miliband then, nimbly, said that he’d be happy to amend it to make it clear that this was banned too at which point Cameron was pinned back on the ropes. He was left trying to make his way through the session with increasingly strident references to the influence that the unions have on the Labour party.

Now, personally, I think Miliband is wrong on the substance. It seems odd to complain that MPs are out of touch and then legislate to cut them off from one of their points of contact with the real world. The House does benefit from the experience that MPs gain from some outside interests, lobbying is—obviously—a different kettle of fish.