To ask you all about being an MP?

[Snickerdoodles]

Has anyone on here ever thought about being an MP?

From what I understand, it sounds like a very demanding and challenging job, but also something that’s very rewarding that would give you an opportunity to help lots of people very effectively.

I wouldn’t consider standing to be an MP for at least another ten to fifteen years (at the very least), and quite possibly won’t stand at all. I also understand that, often, people can stand to be an MP several times for different constituences before being selected (or perhaps they may never be selected as an MP). I’ve also heard it’s quite expensive to stand (I think around £30,000).

What does everyone else think about the job and about what it involves?

I've worked for MPs so have some insight! Here's the pros and cons as I see them:

Pros

Can genuinely make a difference, both in a big way through party policy and in a small way through helping constituents

Very interesting

GreT opportunities to meet interesting and inspiring people

Cons

You have to have a thick skin because many, many people will be despicable to and about you

Lots of travel esp if your constituency is far from London

24/7 job - hard to ever be fully switched off

No job security!

Ultimately I think you have to be truly passionate about hands on politics, but for those who are it's a great and rewarding job.

Jess Philips has a book out at the moment which talks a bit about it.

Very insecure! Remember that snap election Theresa May called? That's your job lost!

That's why a lot of politicians have a separate income.

Have you done any local government stuff? District/borough Councillor? Are you a member of a political party?

I imagine you have to be involved at local party level and know the right people to be selected.

Have worked for MPs so a little insight

It’s fucking hard work. You never switch off, if something big happens then you need to be in your constituency ASAP, people can be utterly vile to you so you must have a thick skin sadly, you don’t work set hours-you do in theory but things can change at the last minute meaning you’re home 1 or 2h later then you planned, If you live in your constituency then you can barely nip to the shops without someone pulling you aside. And of course the lack of job security!

But you can make so much difference, you meet some wonderful and incredibly interesting people and know you’ve potentially helped people in a huge way.

I have a huge amount of respect for MPs, it’s bloody hard work and I don’t think people truly know the work that goes into it

I know two reasonably well, through my community work. They are by no means perfect and I don't share their politics but they are both good people, work very hard, and have good intentions. People from the other party are vile to and about them, even people who are generally perfectly nice people think it's ok to have a pop at politicians. It's despicable and does not help the country at all.

You need to be heavily involved with constituency work to even get your application approved. I did 5 years of working a constituency most Saturdays and many evenings before our sitting MP would endorse my application.
Once your application has been endorsed it then goes through to the party HQ and is either a Yes or a No.
If a yes, you then have to attend a candidates day where you spend the day getting assessed on various aspects of your personality and work ability. If you pass that, you can then start applying for seats based on the level of pass that you receive.
Applying for seats is a case of filling in an application form that then goes to the local party. They will select a group of candidates to take forward to a hustings from which they will select their PPC (potential parliamentary candidate)
Depending on where in the election cycle they gain a seat, candidates will then spend virtually all of their free time knocking on doors and attending events. In the run up to polling day, expect to be working 18hrs +
It is unlikely that you would get a winnable seat on your first attempt so you could potentially spend a decade using up your free time before you made it as an MP

You don't get selected to be an MP, you get selected to stand as a candidate. You then stand at election against all the other parties who forward a candidate in your constituency. Then you are or are not elected. It's not really a 'job' in the conventional sense. You can be elected and then be pretty successful and still not get elected next time round if the political wind is blowing the other way. I think it requires a great deal of commitment and a very thick skin and the willingness to do years of groundwork - and then still not be elected. Politics is a vocation, really.

Very insecure! Remember that snap election Theresa May called? That's your job lost!

This is true, but over-egged. They get a performance review (election) every five years. Plenty of people have much, much less job security.

Not to mention the extremely generous redundancy package.

Do you want to be an MP for one of the bigger parties (Labour/Tory) or the smaller ones? If you want to be a Lib Dem or Green MP you need to remember there is no such thing as a safe seat for these parties - you need to be the sort of person who can lead a campaign team for maybe 10 or 15 years, building your profile, chipping away at the opposition, and hoping that next time will be your time. It's incredibly difficult for anyone but women can find it very hard as time spent in your consitutency is time not spent with your family.

This is all so interesting - thank you all for your posts.
Just going back to what @madvixen mentioned about being very involved in constituency work even before being selected, how does this work? Do people choose the constituency they’d like to represent and then get involved in that constituency?

I’ve also heard stories of people being ‘parachuted in’ (sorry, I know it’s not a great term) by their party to different constituencies. They can sometimes be directed to, from what I’ve read, a constituency that doesn’t traditionally vote for their party in the hope that they’ll get selected. In this case, when they’re ‘parachuted in’, does their party choose their constituency for them?

I am a local Councillor, and that is hard enough work. I absolutely love it though. Most people who stand for Parliament have been involved in local politics first, or work for an MP.
As someone says, you need to develop a thick skin campaigning, and even afterwards. You get people who slam the door in your face and are unbelievably rude.
Positive side, you meet some lovely people, hear some sad stories, but you need to go into it with your eyes open.
You are there to represent everyone, no matter what your views are. I often work till 10pm at night, am out 7 days most weeks and there is always something to attend. Your phone will go at all times of day or night.
I sound as if I'm being negative, I'm really not, but you need to have a supportive family. I went through the whole party vetting , everything is checked inc social media.
I've got to say, its the best few years of my life. Do I want stand for Parliament? Not sure I do.

Snickerdoodles...unless you are standing as an Independent, you need to be active in your chosen political party and campaign with them.
If you are an Independent candidate, you need to get involved in a local cause eg Save a school from closure or something and get your name known, preferably in local paper. Or no one will know who you are.
If you are in a Political Party then people will initially vote for your party.

If you follow MPs on social media you will see what successful MPs do and what those who are in more safe seats might do. I follow an MP out of my area because they sponsored a private members bill that was very important to me. Everyday this MP is out there locally and nationally campaigning. If I disagree with them I say so. My MP on the other hand is high profile (think Chair of Parliamentary committees), despite being a very very new MP and actually quite young. Essentially he is in a seat where he could be a plank of wood and still be voted in. He is non-existent in the local community and local issues. #crap

Thanks, everyone. This thread really has been eye-opening. There have some some MPs that I really respect, but since reading your replies on this thread, I have to say that I’ve got a new-found respect for all MPs.

You tend to get involved in your local constituency. The seats you can be chosen to fight aren't really your decision, it will depend on the pass level you receive following the assessment day. I can only speak for the party I was involved with but we had three levels

1. a particular seat only (this tended to be for candidates who were being pushed by the local association). You can only apply for this seat
2. local seats. You can apply for seats in a particular area such as the north east, north west etc
3. national pass. You can apply for any seat in the country

And being involved in constituency work can be incredibly boring. For my first 6 months all I was trusted with was stuffing envelopes. Once they realised that I was actually serious about politics, they let me be involved in more. Many constituencies don't have paid staff any more so volunteers are the lifeblood of the area and do everything from writing newsletters, running events and running campaigns. You learn so much from it and it will really help if you do decide to pursue the MP route but be prepared to do a lot of grunt work as the newbie into the association.

like all jobs you start at the bottom. join a party, do the leg work, door knocking and envelope stuffing. stand as a local town councillor first then a county councillor (if outside London) and do this work whilst still putting in the hours of behind the scenes type work.

you need to build up a cv in your community of things that you have done, projects you have seen through - a new bus shelter, childrens play area etc. Also it is useful to look at funding groups that you can work with as a volunteer - EU programmes distributing grant funds used to have a fair number of wannabe MP's on them.

really though you have to feel completely passionately about serving your community. wanting to make a real difference to it and improving the lives of people in it. its not a career choice but something that you are driven to do because you want where you live to be different.

most people moan on about their MP and politics locally. few have the drive or are prepared to put in the time to do the job and make the difference.

I'd absolutely love to be an MP. Unfortunately due to significant health problems, I work part time and make very occasional constituency meetings and very little campaigning as I can't stand for long.

Labour are just starting to talk about helping disabled party members to be more involved. It gives me a bit of hope that maybe when I'm a bit better I could at lest stand for council.

Get stuck into your community OP - join a party, go to the meetings, knock on doors, and see how you feel then. Even people who are parachuted in are usually fairly experienced activists elsewhere who have done something else that distinguishes them.

There's no way on earth I would ever do it.

You spend your life being professionally slagged off by the other side. Many of the general public think you're a parasite who has their nose in the trough. You spend most of your time away from home in London and work really odd hours. And despite what everyone says, the money isn't all that.

No thanks. Not ever.

It would help to have some experience of government at a Lower Tier - i.e. town, district or county councillor. The earlier poster was right - your party will select you as a candidate unless you run as an independent. I work Local government. I can try say that our councillors are the most self absorbed, patronising, back slapping ( of themselves), inconsiderate twats that I have ever met. Be prepared to work with those sort of people.

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I'm only familiar with Labour party processes, but you need to be a "face" in the constituency you live in and avoid making enemies for a good few years to get selected as a candidate. Being a local councillor first used to be more or less essential, but these days more and more MPs don't do that. A fair few will have had Westminster jobs, or been paid agents locally before getting selected themselves.

You also need to have a squeaky clean past because, once selected, the other side will dig about to try and find anything that could discredit you. An ill-considered tweet or Facebook post from your past could cause you loads of grief.

And if you have a family, they will need to be totally on board and supportive. You will be away from home for days at a time (unless you live in London), you will be working 7 days a week and you can never be off duty. Our previous MP couldn't even go to the supermarket without being buttonholed by someone about some burning issue. (The current one avoids this by never being seen in town unless it's to be interviewed by the BBC, the only time we see her is on the news).

I think most MPs now employ staff to handle their casework, but they all have local surgeries where constituents can rock up and get them involved in stuff.

It will take over your whole life, you never really get a day off.

You need to get heavily involved in your local constituency, and ideally get yourself selected to stand as a candidate in local elections and serve on the local council. It's definitely not something you can suddenly decide to do without building up a very solid track record. Unless you're heavily committed to politics and local affairs, be ready for hours and hours of boredom.

If you want to get a taste of what campaigning is like, try joining in with a by-election campaign. The party I used to be involved with was famous for its by-election team and people came from all over to volunteer - you could be an envelope-stuffer, go out delivering, get involved with canvassing, all different kinds of the jobs that have to go on behind the scenes to get someone elected. I think there's a London by-election coming soon as the MP has decided to become Deputy Mayor and has stood down. As has been said above, you will need to pick your party as very few independents make it to Parliament these days.