Top Tories Call For Mps' Salaries To Be Doubled

[cashinmattress]

Top Tories call for MPs' salaries to be doubled

Two top Conservatives have called for MPs to be given pay rises.

Sir Patrick Cormack, who was one of the candidates for Commons Speaker, said members' salaries should be doubled - from £64,766 to over £130,000 - in return for scrapping their controversial second homes allowances.

Douglas Hogg, who claimed expenses for the cleaning of his moat, has also called for MPs to be given six figure salaries, with "appropriate expenses".

Mr Hogg said their pay had fallen so low that it was not sufficient to support the lifestyle "to which most professional and business classes aspire".

However, Chancellor Alistair Darling, who is standing in for Gordon Brown while he is on holiday, said that such demands could not be justified at a time when ordinary people were struggling.

"At a time when everyone else is pulling in their belts, at a time when people are worried about their jobs, some people are going part-time, MPs cannot be treated any differently from anyone else," he said.

Last week, Conservative leader David Cameron was forced to slap down frontbencher Alan Duncan, when he said MPs were living on "rations" in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Both Sir Patrick and Mr Hogg made their comments in submissions to the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which is holding an inquiry into the system of MPs' expenses.

Hmmm. This is a tough one.

Personally I think they are overpaid as is, but, if they want it, they also have to give up their 'John Lewis' black budget, be given an expenses budget and strict code of conduct with disciplinary measures in place, and finally, to report all income outside of their political position.

Of course my suggestions won't happen, and Britain will just drift further away from the democratic ideals put in place in the last century. Welcome back the days of the lords and elite. Goodbye middle class.

Neo-feudal Britain. Same as it ever was.

[InternationalRockSuperstar]

where's Guy Fawkes when you need him?

[Minos]

I think the selection process for MPs should take into account the cost to the taxpayer. The cheapest gets the job. Before anyone starts bleating about attracting the brightest, just think of John Prescott and Dennis Skinner et al.

[the_austrian]

Perhaps only the people that vote for them get to pay the salaries. Same goes for all Govt spending.

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

Perhaps only the people that vote for them get to pay the salaries. Same goes for all Govt spending.

That's actually quite a good idea.

[Dopamine]

Cheeky ba5tard

Most people on professional salaries with professional qualifications (i.e., postgraduates) earn far less than £64K, or not much more - most of them doing useful productive jobs rather than the useless beancounting and gambling that goes on in the city.

What he means is that the current salary puts off tory boys earning telephone numbers in the city. It's bad enough that the current MP's salary is high enough to attract useless souped up councillors who'd be lucky to earn over £20K in the real world - we don't want it pulling in another group of overpromoted d1cks.

[three pint princess]

Pay them expenses and nothing else, get rid of the career politicans and bring back the Lords.

[Cogs]

Douglas Hogg: Nominative determinism?

[Guest joeschmo]

And another nail in Daves coffin . Mandy has planted someone in Daves thinktank to keep feeding them these barmy ideas and they are so stupid not to realise. fantastic

[TheCountOfNowhere]

The count of nowhere calls for their expenses to be withdrawn and their salaries halved.

On account of this being a vocation rather than a job or carear. It's something they should really want to do for free.

Thieving c************************s

[eightiesgirly]

Can't we put the jobs out to tender, or better still outsource them? Offshore politician..... has a ring to it.

[Executive Sadman]

They really dont want to win this election, do they?

Not that anyone can really blame them.

[SarahBell]

Subject them to the same scrutiny as they subject the rest of us.

Expenses are fine. within the real rules: solely and exclusively for the purpose of their job.

[Guest sillybear2]

Mr Hogg said their pay had fallen so low that it was not sufficient to support the lifestyle "to which most professional and business classes aspire".

If you really are worth more and the mother of all Parliament's is now beneath you then vote with your feet Mr Hogg, resign your seat and see if some state owned bank takes you on.

Self-important p***ks, that said, the Tories seem to be doing a good job of delivering themselves a hung Parliament.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

They really dont want to win this election, do they?

Not that anyone can really blame them.

If Dave wanted to help the Tory party hed make sure Labour won the next election as whoever wins next is gonna be the party dealing with real carnage and crash phase of the economy, be it through their own actions or lack of action and the IMF doing it for them.

If Labour are still in power they are unlikely to get in for at least a couple of generations

If tories are in power they will get no more than 1 term

[three pint princess]

They really dont want to win this election, do they?

Not that anyone can really blame them.

It is getting a bit "Springtime for Hitler" , if this backfires we could end up with a very odd government who can tell the truth about

what they are thinking.

[lowrentyieldmakessense(honest!)]

where's Guy Fawkes when you need him?

Cromwell needed

“...It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

“Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter'd your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

“Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defil'd this sacred place, and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd; your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse the Augean Stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings, and which by God's help and the strength He has given me, I now come to do.

“I command ye, therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. You have sat here too long for the good you do. In the name of God, go!â€

and Jackson

The paper system being founded on public confidence and having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable to great and sudden fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure and the wages of labor unsteady and uncertain. The corporations which create the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the whole community. The banks by this means save themselves, and the mischievous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public."

“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the grace of the Eternal God, will rout you out.â€

but really given their present power

we need a Cromwell, a Jackson, a Jefferson, a Franklin and a few others to stand up

[The Realist]

Let us have half the number of MPs and pay them twice the amount. Plus no expenses. Some savings there.

Also, limit them to two terms, no outside emplyment and must have worked in proper job (not for example researcher for political party) for at least ten years before eligible.

By all means pay quality salaries but make sure that we get quality people.

In an ideal world I would ban all people who wanted to be a MP from being one!

[juvenal]

Give these spivs, chancers and cheapjacks another £62K each year instead of the £23K max(?) per year that they can get their greasy hands on at the moment?

Sounds like a winner...

..for those who survive.

[futurepaul]

Double pay double final pension w@ankers

[a+b+c+d]

And another nail in Daves coffin . Mandy has planted someone in Daves thinktank to keep feeding them these barmy ideas and they are so stupid not to realise. fantastic

Unfortunately, there wasn't a need for Mandy to plant anyone - they were there all along.

[daddybear]

How about a basic salary and then a bonus structure based on approval ratings by their constituents say 50k + travelodge & food allowance for being away from home then an extra 30k available bonus

[a+b+c+d]

Let us have half the number of MPs and pay them twice the amount. Plus no expenses. Some savings there.

Also, limit them to two terms, no outside emplyment and must have worked in proper job (not for example researcher for political party) for at least ten years before eligible.

By all means pay quality salaries but make sure that we get quality people.

In an ideal world I would ban all people who wanted to be a MP from being one!

And how, exactly, will you find 'quality people' who have had at least ten years of, presumably, successful employment, who are willing to take a ten year break to be an MP and then return to their trade or profession? In the meantime, they can't practice their profession, even part-time, during their time in Parliament which really means they will be out of it for the rest of their lives.

You haven't thought through your bright idea. You're unrealistic, The Realist!

[steve99]

Wasnt long ago the Torries were complaining that the minimum wage was too much for the country to bear. Perhaps they should take min wage as their starting point and the cheapest meal at McCaCa's as their expenses. C u n t s.

(this isnt a vote for Labour, just pointing out the Torries us/them way of applying standards)

[monty1080]

I would have thought that the no quibble pension, plus the non exec directors jobs, consultancies etc etc they have access to after(and while) they are MPs more than makes up for what they deem to be substandard pay. Besides the 2nd home allowance isn't the only expense they can claim, I heard a figure of 80k?? So by all means, abolish ALL expenses (wife and family employed as researchers etc) and pay them 130k.

BTW I am in favour of the rent a room to an MP camp, I would be happy to have Hazel Blears paying a nominal rent in my back bedroom as long as she also did some babysitting and light house work.