After Patricia Hewitt, Beverley Hughes and David Chaytor we are now up to 16 undead MPs: ones who have decided to stand down at the next election, but hang on a year until they can get their payoff – which is up to £120,000 depending on age and length of service. Go now, and they get nothing.
Some of the excuses are just pathetic. If the job is such a toll on family life and health, etc, why not stand down now? Who else gives a year’s notice? You can bet their constituents will be getting a less-than-stellar service (“What you going to do? Sack me?”). As anyone who has worked out a notice period can attest, their hearts will not be in the job.
But their fingers may very well be in the till: once you’ve stood down, what’s to stop you gorging on the as-yet-unreformed expenses system? I would not be surprised if the number of voodoo MPs doubles in the next few weeks.
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