The Anonymous Widower

Should MPs be Banned from Employing Spouses?

A report in The Times, says that MPs will be banned from employing family members and would have to sell second homes.

I think this would create an even bigger can of worms.

Let’s take the case of an MP who has employed his spouse for twenty years to run his office.  There are actually quite a few if the reports are to be believed.  In probably the great majority of cases, we as the tax payers probably get good value.

My wife was a barrister and for much of her career, I was her very part-time unpaid helper.  If she was in Court and a brief needed to be collected, I’d pop in to her Chambers to get it.  Or if her computer needed updating, that was my department.  Many partners work as a team, to their own advantage.

So even if we ban spouses from working for their partners, does this mean that they can’t do any work, unpaid or not?

And what about the situation, where an MP lives with someone, to whom they are not married?

As I said it will be an even bigger can of worms.

In my view, an MP is in effect a small business, so should they be under any different rules!  Everything should be approved by the Inland Revenue and if your wife, partner, husband or grand-daughter is the best person for the job, then why should they not be employed.

I’m also reminded of a tale told to me by an MP.  He was doing a series of speaking engagements for his party in the year running up to an election.  As he would be tired after speaking and may have indulged in the odd glass or two, he did not feel it was a good idea to drive home.  So he went to the Job Centre and said could they find him a driver, who could also help with moving his computer about, between home and the House.

The Job Centre said no, as he had said the job would not be permanent.

So in the end he employed one of his friend’s son’s in the year before he went to University.

October 20, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | News | Politics