UK lawmakers to face second jobs ban

UK MPs are set to be banned from having second jobs as paid consultants as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government continues to wrestle with the fallout from a lobbying scandal.

After the opposition Labour party proposed a ban on all outside employment apart from ‘public service’ jobs like part-time doctors or nurses, Johnson on Tuesday evening announced support for a ban on consultancy to prevent lawmakers from “exploiting their position” to boost their £81,932 MP’s salary.

The row over second jobs has emerged over the Conservative government’s handling of Owen Paterson, a Tory MP. The UK Parliament’s Standards regulator found that he had corruptly lobbied government officials on behalf of two companies that paid him a combined £110,000 per year. Initially, the Conservatives sought to overrule the regulator and establish a new committee on parliamentary standards before making a U-turn after public backlash.

Johnson’s party has already taken a 5% hit in opinion polls within the last month.

Ironically, Johnson took a hefty pay cut when he became Prime Minister in 2019 have previously supplemented his MPs wage by around £500,000 per year from giving speeches and writing newspaper columns.

(Benjamin Fox | EURACTIV.com)