MP's showing solidarity with the public in a time of crises

[wilts rover]

Or maybe not.

In New Zealand because of the pandemic all ministers and many MP's took a pay cut to help the country.

In the UK MP's have earned £5 million extra from second jobs, mostly from tax havens, banks and companies that won COVID contacts, whilst voting to refuse to extend free school meals in the holidays and fund real terms pay rise for nurses:

https://twitter.com/PeterKGeoghegan/status/1374328370075422721

but flags...

[drfchound]

Wilts, do you have any figures on how much, if anything, that the NZ MPs earned from their other jobs.

[bpoolrover]

While I agree they should only have one job, it’s not just the tories Gordon brown made hundreds of thousands off a second job, the last time I saw which was a few years ago there was around 80 tories and 20 labour with second jobs

[Hounslowrover]

Didn't Gordon Brown give his extra earnings to charity and not take the generous PM pension?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Exactly right HR.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13106803.gordon-brown-is-highest-earning-mp-with-137m-but-he-gives-it-all-to-charity/

Only takes a second to check Bpool. There is simply no excuse for spreading that sort of untruth.

[drfchound]

He wasn’t telling an untruth though was he.
Brown did make lots of money off his other job.
Bpool just didn’t finish the tale.

Further back in the thread wilts wrote about NZ and our MPs but has only told half a story.

[BillyStubbsTears]

He didn't have "another job".

He gave speeches and talks for which the attendees paid very highly with the money going to charity. And he wrote memoirs and gave away every penny of the profits.

"Another job" is when you run a hedge fund, or get paid £1000 an hour into your own pocket for advising companies who entirely incidentally then win uncontested Govt contracts.

[drfchound]

Splitting hairs a bit there bst.
Surely doing speeches etc is another job.
No doubt the lecture will be along soon.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound.
Have you read the report?

"All the fees from speeches and writings are not paid to him and all the money goes directly to charity or to fund charitable work by himself and his wife."

How does that possibly square with Bpool's original comment of Brown "making hundreds of thousands off a second job". By that definition, I had a second job last year when I made £400 for charity doing press ups.

[drfchound]

He didn't have "another job".

He gave speeches and talks for which the attendees paid very highly with the money going to charity. And he wrote memoirs and gave away every penny of the profits.

"Another job" is when you run a hedge fund, or get paid £1000 an hour into your own pocket for advising companies who entirely incidentally then win uncontested Govt contracts.

I just looked up this situation bst and according to an Independent article Brown earned £1.37m in payments additional to his salary as PM.
He gave £600,000 to charities and the rest went to “running an office to support my ongoing involvement in public life”.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Just bizarre how these discussions vanish down a logic black hole. The OP was about payments TO MPs. It is just daft and wrong to equate Brown's situation with the many MPs who absolutely do line their pockets from second jobs.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound.
Grand. So that's a second source that says Brown didn't take the money himself. As I say, implicitlybequating Brown's situation with MPs who get paid £1000 an hour straight into their pockets to advise companies is simply daft.

[drfchound]

Just bizarre how these discussions vanish down a logic black hole. The OP was about payments TO MPs. It is just daft and wrong to equate Brown's situation with the many MPs who absolutely do line their pockets from second jobs.

I suppose you would have approved of a diversification to the thread had Johnson or Cameron been the subject of bpools post.

[drfchound]

Hound.
Grand. So that's a second source that says Brown didn't take the money himself. As I say, implicitlybequating Brown's situation with MPs who get paid £1000 an hour straight into their pockets to advise companies is simply daft.

Mmmm, I suppose that might depend on how you interpret Brown's version of what running an office meant.

[belton rover]

I offer no evidence to suggest that the ‘report’ is wrong, but the info about giving all his earnings away to good causes comes from a spokesman in Brown’s office.

A bit like Dave Nice telling us that Mike Smash does a lot of work for charidee but doesn’t like to talk about it.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I offer no evidence

Why change the habit of a lifetime?

To answer the substantive point you are nearly making, it would have been very silly for the spokesman to lie about it, given the the accounts are published.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Just bizarre how these discussions vanish down a logic black hole. The OP was about payments TO MPs. It is just daft and wrong to equate Brown's situation with the many MPs who absolutely do line their pockets from second jobs.

I suppose you would have approved of a diversification to the thread had Johnson or Cameron been the subject of bpools post.

You don't need to do this Hound. It demeans the discussion.

If someone had implied that Cameron had personally profitted from hawking himself out when he hadn't, I would have corrected it. As it happens, Cameron has made a large amount of money from a book and speeches since stepping down as PM and there's no indication he's given a penny if it to charity. As for Johnson, he was paid £250k per year for writing articles for the Telegraph while an MP prior to Brexit. Again, there's no evidence of that going anywhere except into his pocket.

You have this absolute fixation with all politicians being as bad as each other, when the evidence shows they are not. Equally, you have this obsession with me being unfairly partisan, which makes you believe that I'd behave a certain way in hypothetical scenarios.

Back to Brown. If he was in the game to line his pockets, why on earth turn down the PM's pension that he was actually entitled to? That was about £70k per year turned down.

Regarding his office, you don't have to interpret anything. It's all out there.

https://gordonandsarahbrown.com/gordon-brown/

[belton rover]

I offer no evidence

Why change the habit of a lifetime?

To answer the substantive point you are nearly making, it would have been very silly for the spokesman to lie about it, given the the accounts are published.

Hardly a report, though, Billy. However much you edit my posts.

[drfchound]

With regards to Cameron or Johnson, maybe they don’t like to publicise it if they do give money to charities.
Lots of people donate to charities on a regular basis.
Not everyone boasts about it or makes it common knowledge.

Again, I notice that you are ok with wilts offering a one sided OP in that he doesn’t offer any information on how much extra money the NZ MPs earn from activities outside of their Parliamentary duties.
It is a very biased post.

[SydneyRover]

As you brought up the matter of NZ and second jobs into the conversation why don't you hound?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Interesting take Hound.

When there is solid evidence that Brown didn't personally benefit from his book and speeches, you insinuate that he might have.

When there is no evidence that Cameron and Johnson didn't personally benefit from writing and speeches, you suggest that they might not have done.

As a debating style, it's certainly a tough one to counter.

[Donnywolf]

While I agree they should only have one job, it’s not just the tories Gordon brown made hundreds of thousands off a second job, the last time I saw which was a few years ago there was around 80 tories and 20 labour with second jobs

I DO know as it is well documented that Grant Shapps DID have a second job when it was illegal to have one

A Consituent claimed he was calling himself Michael Green and Shapps denied it but it was proven true

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/15/grant-shapps-admits-he-had-second-job-as-millioniare-web-marketer-while-mp

Later this person became Tory Party Chair and is now of course Transport Minister and always has his flag when on Telly - h7s Red Box placed to show he is "busy" and a Book with Grant Shapps in massive letters to remind him he is not Michael Green [or other aliases] presumably

The Consituent I am less sure of.

[Hounslowrover]

I find all this quite bizarre, Wilts produced a list that included MPs of all parties, Hound throws in something about NZ, then Selby mentions Brown who’s not been an MP for over ten years. ??

[drfchound]

Hound mentioned NZ because wilts included it in the OP.

[SydneyRover]

How many NZ mps have a second job hound?

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

How many NZ mps have a second job hound?

I don't believe they are allowed but they are incentivised differently. An MP in new Zealand is paid over twice the salary of a UK mp.

[SydneyRover]

Some UK MPs earn more in their second jobs than NZ MPs earn bfyp, they must ahave plaenty of spare time.

[SydneyRover]

Are you sure about the pay of NZ mps bfyp?

[BillyStubbsTears]

While taking an MP salary before the EU vote, Johnson was paid four times an MP's salary to write one article per week for the Telegraph. Many of them slagging off the EU.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Oh aye. And he called £250k a year "chickenfeed" when questioned on the issue.