Has anyone noticed the number of government ministers who are unpaid - by which I mean they do not receive anything beyond their normal MPs' salaries. There is a strict limit on the number of ministers who can be paid salaries. Here is a list of the ones who have to make do on £59,000...
Secretary of State for N Ireland - Shaun Woodward
Lord in Waiting - Lord Truscott
Minister of State - Lord Drayson
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Shahid Malik MP
Parliamentary Secretary - Helen Goodman MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Lord McKenzie of Luton
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Iain Wright MP
Assistant Government Whip - Sadiq Khan MP
Assistant Government Whip - Mark Tami MP
So Britain's first two Muslim ministers don't get paid the same as 95% of their colleagues.
41 comments:
Iain,
18 Doughty street with Gyles brandreth, one of the funniest and brilliant hours of TV i have seen in ages. absolutely brilliant.
What a terrible rule. Paying people to do a job is a good start when trying to entice people into politics.
It is all very well saying money should not be the driver; but then what is, power alone?
some ask not to be paid for their role
What a pathetic observation!
I think it goes to show that some people really will work harder if you give them a fancy title.
However, some of them a quite big jobs so it does seem a little odd........
iain, you don't believe that the fact they are muslim has anything to do with the fact that they are unpaid, do you?
of course not. to make the observation implies that you do believe that, or that you think there might be a connection.
are you suggesting that, if any ministers were to be unpaid, someone should have said "hang on, let's make sure that at least one o the muslims is paid"?
Pathetic is not the way I would put it but I am in danger of ...cough cough...sort of agreeing with that twit Piper.
I think some of you guys take Iains blog far too seriously!
I suspect the people who take it too seriously aren't Conservatives.
totally ridiculous when both Shaun Woodward and Lord Drayson declined a salary as they hardly need the cash!
Plumbing the depths again Ian - or just bored because you're unemployable?
Its always great to see a post from Bob Piper or any other old labourite, like seeing a Morris Minor or an Ausitin Maxi , it gives you a warm feeling of nostalgia, even though the product was s**** (it ryhmes with white)
I think all MPs including ministers should be paid a fixed smallish salary for their hard work. People should be able to survive on the money MPs earn, but not to amass huge fortunes. After all they go into politics to represent their constituencies and to make things "better", not to increase their pension pot - or am I being idealistic?
Michael Crick on newsnight suggested that the Labour Lords are up in arms about this.
A fair days pay for a fair days work. Would you not agree with the Mr Piper?
What a good idea reduce the other 95% who are overpaid to bring them into line with the 5% who receive a decent salary.
So what is new? A few years back we heard we were to get a minister for women. So we sat through the announcements, waiting expectantly to hear who was appointed. They finished the list of paid appointments and guess which was the first of the unpaid appointments? The minister for the under-regarded and underpaid was herself to be unpaid. It seemed a very deliberate put-down, emphasised by being the very first on the unpaid list.
Unemployable am I? Prat. That's why I have a full time job at 18 Doughty Street, have a column in the Telegraph and sundry other bits of media income. Oh dear, you'll have to do better than that.
Iain, your avatar picture has been blank in comments on my computer (Windows Vista, IE 7) for some days. Other peoples' pictures are showing up OK.
Someone mentioned recently (or was it on Guido, but it affects both of you) that the headings of the comments were overlapping the first lines of text. Having just had a system crash and been forced to use different machines, I can confirm that it happens in Windows XP and Vista with both IE and Firefox, and in Mac OS 10 with Firefox. Evidently a Blogger thing, probably incurable.
Shaun Woodward volunteered to be unpaid, and the Lords don't get £59,000 (which was the 2005 figure btw).
How many of the Tory Mimicsters are not getting paid to do their "extra" jobs? And having to make do with summer jobs, bar jobs, or board jobs?
The worst case of unpaid was Meg Munn who was working on women and equality (!) who didn't get paid for a long time, though getting all but six months in back pay I think.
I think she was then the only minister of substance not getting a wage.
The junior whips and such can be very very part time roles.
BTW Iain. Why on earth did you rise to that 'unemployable' line? Didn't need an answer.
jailhouselawyer said...
What a good idea reduce the other 95% who are overpaid to bring them into line with the 5% who receive a decent salary.
July 04, 2007 11:41 PM
On the other hand, you could just axe their positions and save us all the trouble.
Ed has a damned good point. How many Tory MPs manage on their £60,000 without any sidelines? How many earn more from their sidelines than their day job? How many twice as much? three times etc? And yes I know we have Blunkett and Abbott among others rooking the media.
So Britain's first two Muslim ministers don't get paid the same as 95% of their colleagues.
Of course Dave will be paying Sayeeda Warsi from his own pocket I suppose....or did he put her in the Lords because a) Shahid Malik beat her in an election b) Peers don't get salary ?
Or are you trying to justify the next car-bombing ?
Well Oliver Letwin only has a Commons salary to pay school fees....and Hague gets his dosh after dinner
Dear Chris Paul,
The NULAB lot have been shelling out "nonjobs" to friends and family for years! The NULAB fraudsters have taken sleaze to a whole new level and you only have to look in the socialist rag, the gruaniad for proof of this! I would bet that the NULAB trolls are raking it in with nonjobs Etc!
True English Democrat. When you think of Liningstone forcing already heaving Boroughs to accept ever higher levels of slum Benefits estates to suck in more serf voters I wonder what it was that Dame Shirley Porter did that was any different.
I also wonder how much of my day is spent paying for Chris Paul. Some microscopic sliver no doubt but add the millions of gaping public sectopr beaks and you need an awful lot of worms.
Better get back to work then
Ed has a damned good point.
Whoops - that's my credibility gone!
I actually do think that MPs should also not earn any money outside their supposedly full-time parliamentary "job". If they want to do an interview or whatever fine but shouldn't get paid for it. Time to write a book? Perhaps that time could be better used scrutinising the executive or furthering the interests of your constituents instead.
Being in politics is surely a vocation not a money-making career opportunity.
So Drayson draws a salary? Is he any good at 'defence procurement'?
Commons Committe on Defence reports that the RAF transport fleet is out of date, and hard to maintain.
Drayson and others seem to promise 'replacements' which have yet to fly, and complete testing. Anticipated service entry is c.2012.
What has happened to the promised air to air tankers to replace the motley assortment of VC 10s, DC10s and Tristars?
We have a government which has added on challenging tasks for the UK's forces, and consistently fails to provide adequate weapons and support. Meanwhile 'Dave' says nothing, The Opposition should have more spine not spin.
Ed, in a perfect world I would agree, but I know that MPs from across the divide would disagree with you. The Commons simply doesn't pay that well.
For example, I was being moaned at the other day by an MP who said he couldn't afford a decent holiday this year because his wife has just had a baby and had to give up work. They now have to survive on his salary and allowances alone. Trying to keep up two houses in two expensive areas (when you can;t rent one out because you need to live in them both) and the kind of life that an MPs lifestyle demands is not cheap.
I think the total package is about £110k a year (pensions, housing and salary - but I might be wrong)
As a small businessman I don't feel a huge degrere of sympathy as the role of an MP is fairly well rewarded - financially and non-financially. But it is long hours, hard work and unless yoiu have a huge majority in a safe seat, not that secure. It is unfair to portray it as a honeypot!
Europe however.....now that's where the money is!
"Has anyone noticed the number of government ministers who are unpaid?"
Yes - I saw a post on Little and Large about it on Tuesday.
Should they be paid on the basis that they're Muslim? That's an odd comment, Iain. They don't get paid because they're Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State, not because of their religion.
They're on the first rung, and that's just the way it is in our system - what would you have had The GFC do, appoint them straight to the cabinet?
But it is long hours, hard work and unless yoiu have a huge majority in a safe seat, not that secure.
True. Pay people enough to live and run two modest homes. The London flat hardly needs to be a Mayfair mansion!
I'm not sure we need people in Parliament who are so risk averse that their whole life would be ruined by losing an election. I also think that reducing the money making opportunities for MPs would reduce the attraction for younger people - which would have the added benefit of our legislators having some life experience prior to entering Parliament!
and support. Meanwhile 'Dave' says nothing, The Opposition should have more spine not spin.
Dave is firmly under the control of his Tin Foil Chancellor regarding spending commitments
Doesn't Lord Nelson also have a column in Trafalgar Square? Makes a fine target for pidgeon shit.
The lack of salary is designed to imply that these extra ministers come at no extra cost to the taxpayer, yet the truth is that they all get a chauffeur driven car plus a highly paid private office - costing far more than a few grand extra on top of their mp salary.
Ed, nobody ever said being an MP is meant to be a full-time job - or those who did were making fatuous points. It is not. There's a chap from Dunfermline who fits in being Prime Minister around his MP's job. Okay, okay, I know, he is only a Scottish MP. But his predecessor managed it despite having an English constituency.
Tony Banks used to say - when the Conservatives were in power, obviously - that he didn't know how any MP could fit in being a board director. No doubt most of them didn't know how he could fit in being on TV three hours every day. And when his turn came, he didn't exactly say "no, sorry, no time to be Minister of Sport, I have my constituents to look after".
As for the job not being secure, most people get an appraisal and review rather more than every 4-5 years.
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
MMmmmmmmmm......WHATS YOUR POINT !!!!!. THIS "SCOOP" MEANS NOTHING, AND IS THE DEBATING EQUIVALENT OF "MY DADS BIGGER THAN YOUR DAD" STYLE OF ARGUEMENT......VERY SCHOOL YARD IAIN. I SUPPOSE YOU ONLY HAVE A PSP2 WHILE I HAVE A PSP3 AND A Wii.
...because Shaun Woodward really needs the money!
He only got the job because now Tony is gone, he is the only person in Labour who has expereince of living in a castle and having a Butler!
And your point is?
Sadiq Khan for one is only there because he has brown-nosed his way in. It has been appalling to watch him trot out the party line without blinking and without being able, apparently, to think for himself.
He doesn't deserve to be an MP, let alone a Minister. This is barrel-scraping in order to head off the PC brigade.
dr spyn,
In answer to your question: yes. Yes Drayson is good at defence procurement, much as it pains me to speak well of a Labourite (especially on the subject of Defence).
The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) he has forced through against MoD resistance has the potential to radically improve the relations between (now ex-) DPA and suppliers... which has frankly been at a desperate low for a long time.
It could even lead to the MoD paying what the equipment is worth and thereby encouraging people to accurately describe the capability they are offering (although the latter is a faint hope in the international circuit).
If you're looking for a target for ire on the fact that equipment has not been replaced or more agressively repaired, one should tackle the beurocratic dinosaur that the MoD has been for some time. Or one could just blame the gentleman who lowered the defence budget every year for the past ten or so.
Very good point above about the knock-on costs of having these excess Ministers even if they are not paid. I wonder if they still get the enhanced pension - a real cost even if not accounted for in the Alice in Wonderland world of public sector accounting?
The restriction on the number of paid Ministers is also presumably partly there to limit the numbers of Ministers, the "payroll" vote. One issue is that they are still bound to vote for every Govt measure even if they are not paid - so more power to the executive. Also, less chance of getting decent junior Ministers if they get no compensation for giving up their outside earnings (which any backbench MP worth his salt will have, unless he is semi-retired or already very rich).
More Ministers often just means more "initiatives" and general overgovernment. They also cause extra work for civil servants in their departments.
So there should be a statutory limit on the number of Ministers in the Government, only to be changed by a vote of both Houses - if someone like Shaun Woodward wants to waive his salary because it is immaterial to him, fine. In the present circumstances, the fact that Brown needed a quota of unpaid Ministers to have all the posts he wanted must have increased Woodward's chances of appointment. If I were knocking on the door of the Cabinet and felt that he might have got the job over me because he is rich enough for Brown not to be embarrassed to ask him not to take a salary - I think I'd be rather miffed.
Ed, nobody ever said being an MP is meant to be a full-time job
In which case why pay them at all (apart from maybe some rent money for their London flat)?
Is being a Minister a full time job? They certainly spend a lot of time "looking" busy...
Post a Comment