In the middle of July we learned through the media what our MPs were earning outside their parliamentary roles: They earn on average £233 an hour, which is 17 times the national average wage and 22 times higher than the minimum hourly wage. The highest paid sitting MP was Liz Truss, remember, she’s the Prime Minister with the shortest tenure ever: 44 days only, earning £20’000 an hour for a speech on global diplomacy in Taiwan….
Not surprisingly, most of the high earners (which includes not only earnings but also donations and gifts) since the 2019 election are Tories, but also a couple of Labour MPs such as Sir Keir Starmer (£870’000) and Rachel Reeves (£560’000) are in the top 10. Having said that, not all of them spend little time earning outrageous amounts giving speeches: Some MPs actually do spend a considerable amount of time in their jobs. Dr Dan Poulter is not only an MP but also an NHS doctor who has registered some 3500 hours in mental health services since 2019. Or take Sir Geoffrey Cox who clocked up some 2500 hours as a Barrister since the last general election.
Nobody beats the earnings of the former MP and Prime Minister Boris Johnson though: his hourly rate comes up in at just under £22’000, but since he has left parliament he is no longer obliged to divulge his earnings, which since 2019 seem to have added up to a staggering £6.4 million. You are forgiven to wonder how and when such high earners actually represent their constituents’ best interest.
Not everyone, however, is on the take: most MPs have no or negligible earnings outside their Parliamentary salary. Like former SNP Westminster leader, Ian Blackford stated, it is important that people can trust their politicians.
Nevertheless, this begs the question who our members of parliament really represent when they are paid what are outrageous amounts of money for advisory, speaking engagements and god knows how much or how little work.
Looking at these numbers, and what these high owners have achieved in Westminster during their political careers (and I am thinking here of their positive contributions, as there is lots of the other kind as well), it becomes obvious to me that, for some of them, the Parliamentary career is a means to an end. Or in other words: looking at some of our politicians, one can only come to the conclusion that politics really is a dirty business.
There is going to be a general election sometime before January 2025. Let’s make sure that we remember where some of our MPs priorities seem to be when we put our vote in the ballot box!
The grumpy older man 
When I was back up in Liverpool as a teen, there was a guy who got elected in 1979, called Terry Fields. He’ll be retired now. He was about the most honorable person about wages that I can think of.
Before being elected, he was a fireman.
After being elected, he continued to draw his fireman’s salary,
Now, MPs are paid considerably more than fireman, so unsurprisingly there was an excess. That excess went either to charity, or to the Labour Party, I’n not sure which.
As to your point, it’s one of many things where there should be a debate, What do we think is acceptable? For me, the ONS keeps track of average wages. That should be what somebody earns for being an MP. For that, I’d expect 35 hours per week parliamentary business. These recesses they have are nonsense, but I’d give each 5 weeks off per year. You know, getting more along the lines of a regular job. Would I prevent second jobs? Would I count parliamentary travel as “work”? I’m not sure.
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I see your point as far as average wage is concerned, I think the time invested by honest MPs exceeds a 35 hour week. I’d rather see some strict rules as to what kind of remuneration outside parliamentary and constituency work would be allowable. This might then also prevent some conflicts of interest.
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