Parliamentary Nepotism: The Family-Sized Can Of Worms

Posted on February 1, 2008
Filed Under Politics |

Obviously, just because a person or a group of people may be perceived as being dishonest, avaricious, duplicitous, idle, vainglorious, self-serving and criminal does not actually make it true.

After the Derek Conway affair, in which an MP turned his Parliamentary seat into a family money-making machine, David Cameron asked the rest of his team to declare whether they were also using public funds to employ members of their families.

An astonishing 70 plus MPs admitted to doing so, about a third of the Parliamentary Conservative party.

Of course, using taxpayers’ money to pay your spouse or children or sisters or cousins or aunts is not illegal. Most MPs would probably not even consider it to be improper in any way or see that it might look a little suspicious.

That it might appear that you are making sure your family’s, so to speak, mouths are firmly clasped on the teat of the state. That you are making sure that you and yours are getting any handouts that may be going. That you and your family are huddled round the sloshing trough of the gravy train of state.

However normal it may seem at Westminster, it could look somewhat corrupt to an outsider who occupies the normal world, where easy money is a myth and graft simply means having to work your fingers to the bone to make ends meet.

The Times Online has this:

He [David Cameron] said: “As you know, Members of Parliament are responsible for employing their own staff. Earlier this week I asked to be told how many members of my parliamentary party employ family members and there are over 70.

“I believe the public are right to demand more transparency and openness when it comes to MPs staff, pay, allowances and expenses. As a first step I will ensure that from the start of the new financial year (1st April 2008) all Conservative front bench MPs must declare if they employ family members in the Register of Members’ Interests. I hope all other Conservative MPs will follow suit.”

He added that this was “the first in a number of steps we need to take to reassure people that Members of Parliament work hard for their constituents and are honest and open in their spending of public money”.

[…]

It did not take long for Gordon Brown to try to outdo Mr Cameron in the anti-sleaze ‘arms-race’. His political spokesman announced this morning that he expected all Labour MPs to declare publicly any family members. The Prime Minister made clear he expected such transparency in a meeting with the Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon.

Indeed, in The Guardian:

Brown’s official spokesman said today: “The prime minister has already made clear in his discussions with the chief whip that all Labour MPs, not just the frontbenchers, should be open and transparent about the staff who are working for them and, in light of the scandal involving Mr Conway, that includes identifying any family members.

“But the important thing is not just that the staff are registered and identified appropriately but that they are doing the job for which they are funded by the taxpayer.

“That’s what Mr Cameron and his party have previously failed to recognise.”

There might be a slight problem with the need to ensure that: “they are doing the job for which they are funded by the taxpayer”. If that rule was applied to Parliament in general, the place would be deserted.

While you chaps are all looking at whether it is right and proper to spend public money on your wives and girlfriends and boyfriends, try to find time to look at why running the country is never considered important enough to be a full-time job, but always allows you to run second, more lucrative parallel careers.

What was that catchphrase from The A-Team? Sleazeball, slimeball? Whatever.

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