to think that the educated elite running the country can't be all that smart?

[MuseumofInnocence]

This is a Brexit related question, but it's not really about Brexit. The country is in a real mess right now, and the Government (and the opposition) looks woefully incompetent. Yet, if I look at their CVs, these, if not the brightest and best, should be pretty smart people - people with Oxbridge and top university degrees, experience working in industry at top levels, etc.

The example I can give is Stephen Barclay. Cambridge educated lawyer, high positions in City of London firms. The same is true of Dominic Raab (although he has degrees from Oxford and Cambridge).

Chris Grayling went to Cambridge and had a career in business.

I'm not saying I could do a better job, but how come those at the top seem it so incompetent?

Is it that those are top are incompetent, and they're not that bright, or is just too complex for mere mortals? AIBU to think those at the top can't be that smart?

Those who most want to be elected are those who should be the last to be elected.

I think this is the issue really.

The type of person who pushes themselves forward is almost by definition more about their ego and less about the public good.

Boneyback
My point is that no matter which way this went, the "educated elite" as the OP put it will come out on top.
Indeed
but some of the old school patrician Tories like Hezza cared a bit about their workers.

We now have a bunch of disaster capitalists (funded by Mercer) pulling the strings of one party and champagne Stalinists (funded by Putin) pulling the strings of the other

leaving 99.8% of the populace screwed

TalkinPaece

Not sure that I agree with the "(funded by Putin)" but I agree that we are screwed.

And I agree that with the current crop of politicians (on both sides) we are fucked either way.

We need to pay MPs more. Otherwise we're getting the dregs and all the best people are working as CEOs earning over £7M a year.

Whaaaaaat? The last thing we need to do is pay the buggers more, they’re out of touch quite enough already. . I do wish some really bright people like Robert Peston had gone into politics, he runs rings round most MPs.

TBF, TalkinPaece, I don't think either Putin or Mercer (and his fixer, Bannon) are picky about whose strings they pull.

Plenty of Russian money behind the Tories too, plenty of cultural disruption by Mercer's mob...

I quite like a 2-term limit everywhere ...

I think this thread is unnecessarily gloomy about MPs. We don’t see them in committees, working cross-bench on important, possibly non-media-worthy issues with little fanfare. I can think of quite a few on all sides of the House I like.

I think this thread is unnecessarily gloomy about MPs

Or the reverse ... the general assumption about MPs being true, and the exceptions being praised here ?

If you want good people you have to pay.

The old cliched hackneyed saying 'you pay peanuts, you get monkeys'

Parliament is a shitshow atm though. I'm horrified when I watch them on the news. I think a lot of the problem is entrenched privilege, which a private school education is part of.

Most people make a connection between working well and having financial security, so they want to be good at their jobs.

For a lot of the people who go into politics, their money comes from other sources. I think that this leads them to not take their job seriously. I mean, even if they lose their job, they're never going to lose their home or indeed their position in society.

You can have a good education, exam results etc but still be unintelligent, lack common sense, entitled, arrogant & have the ego the size of a T-Rex.
Sounds like quite a few high ranking MPs across all parties.
They are just feathering the own nests & letting their egos rule. They don't give a flying fox about the people & the country.

It's the Peter Principle in action.

Completely agree @Handay. The more we pay, the more of them will do it just for the money. I don’t want representation by people who are only in it for what they can get, that’s what’s wrong now. More conviction politicians with integrity and a sense of public service is what we need now.

it is not just the Tory party the labour party is also full of people with no proper job that move up party or union ranks they also have a lot of privately educated oxbridge graduates it is not like it is just tories equals wealth land private education etc

Corbyn was born into wealthy family with large house and land and privately educated so were dozens of other MP's of all parties, there are not that many who grew up in average wage households with state school education, in fact both Major and Thatcher had far humbler backgrounds than Cameron, Blair, Corbyn or Tony Benn (who gave up his aristocratic title)

very very few of them have any idea what ordinary people are like

I think parliament/ government could be filled with completely randomly picked members of the population, anyone with GCSE maths and English (or equivalent) between the ages of 25 - 65, and it would do a better job.

Would you want someone as a "shadow" in your day job?

I am a finance director, and produce reports for the board about how our company is running. If I were in politics, I would immediately have someone who "shadowed" my job, ripping my work to pieces and doing something the opposite.

Who wants that shit!

I stick to chair of governors / charity trustee etc work as the limit of my contribution to society.

I spent a very pleasant 2 hrs on the train home with my MP yesterday. She is also a friend. She only just managed to catch the train after the votes in the HoC and a full week of PPS and select committee work. She was exhausted, away from her family for most of the week but still totally enthused about her job and the difference she is making.

Those critical of MPs should try a few days in their shoes - brick bats and all. As a successful professional I would never want to do it, and we should applaud those who do. It’s bloody hard work to get there and bloody hard work when you are there.

And I remember Steve Barclay as a very nice guy at university.

Well if you want to hear some praise where praise is due, I'll happily give a standing ovation to the DCMS committee under Damian Collins, investigating fake news. They're doing absolutely sterling work and co-ordinating magnificently with other organisations, like the Information Commissioner's Office, and indeed with other countries, like the Canadian parliament. I can't praise them highly enough – and that's despite the fact some of them have said things on other topics I vehemently disagree with.

Similarly, the public accounts committee, most notably under Margaret Hodge: much excellent work. I seem to remember Grayling failing in front of them when he was DWP secretary, too...

Margaret Hodge, now you’re talking. Brilliant woman.

YANBU I suppose. I don’t think we should tar them all with the same brush, however there is definitely a problem in Parliament with arrogant people (mostly men) who don’t know their own limitations and wouldn’t care if they did.

Something that really disgusts me is the appalling self-interest and shamelessness of many politicians. Some of them (Boris Johnson, Chris Grayling, Michael Gove) clearly have something very wrong with them; others (David Cameron) simply lack intelligence, empathy and imagination.

Their fear of the press and the Twitter death threat brigade doesn’t help. I wouldn’t be surprised if even the principled ones get worried when they think about what happened to Jo Cox.

Maybe rather like jury service we society needs to have MPs selected.
Successful bosses have to be pm for a while

@babybotox
MPs are paid significantly more than 80% of the population.
THe fact that a few FTSE bosses are paid offensive amounts is a different issue.

TBH I think the problem is that MPs have had their outside interests so shut down.
If they all worked half a day a week out in the real world it would give them a perspective that is sadly lacking.

I know I keep coming back to Hezza, but he ran his printing company the whole way through. He had to deal with SSP and Maternity leave and supply chain issues.

A few Brexit secretaries who understood business might be no bad thing.

We need to pay MPs more. Otherwise we're getting the dregs and all the best people are working as CEOs earning over £7M a year.

Salary for an MP is £77k a year, plus expenses. Additional income if they're taking on work as a parliamentary private secretary, chairing a committee, or serving as a minister. By comparison, the average UK salary is £35k.

So, I don't think we have to worry about our MPs being in poverty.

excul
By comparison, the average UK salary is £35k.
Try £26k
and the median is £19k