To wonder why on earth you'd want to be a MP?

[OtraCosaMariposa]

Why does anyone - whatever their political persuasion - put themselves forward for this role? You have to be in London for extended periods, often leaving your family behind. The money is good but many of them could earn a lot more doing other stuff. You get death threats and abuse on a daily basis. When you're at your workplace and stand up to speak, you get boos and heckles from the people sitting opposite you. You have no job security.You have to read unpleasant stuff about yourself or hear people commenting about you, your party or the political system in general.

The whole thing seems to me to be a total nightmare and the most toxic working environment imaginable. No wonder so many of them are not standing for re-election.

Well if you look at the wage in terms of hours..

75k after tax is roughly 52k

If they do a 12 hour day every day of a week, they make £13 an hour.

Would you take all of that abuse and long hours for 13 pound an hour?

Nurses, police, firefighters etc all need paid more too and realistically I don't think mps should be paid more, they seem to do fuck all anyway at the moment. But I wouldnt take that job for that money.

Bah! Apologies for typos.

The benefits are brilliant if you’re officer class. Not many for the rank and file!
And I hear expenses are not what they were in the ranks either.

happydinosaur which benefits?

Expenses are for things required to do the job- and the largest expense is staff salaries.
Yes- they can get expenses for accommodation in London, but if they didn’t get that then only v rich people could be MPs.

But it is an incredibly insecure job.

So are a lot of trades and professions. A recession can destroy a small business, an injury can destroy a tradesman's ability to earn, illness can destroy a teacher's career. Jesus, huge numbers of people are on temp contracts (even in the civil service) and zero hours.

At least an MP has a bash at making five years out of it.

Status and power.

I would do it - even though the salary is quite a bit less than I earn now.

I'd be more likely to do it in the current environment than when it's all very calm.

Mainly because I think it's times like now that decent people with integrity (which I would like to think I am) are needed.

I don't really care very much what other people think of me so the abuse, threats, heckles, etc wouldn't bother me.

I realise this makes me weird

I think I’d quite like to be an MP and I’m not particularly motivated by power or money. I want to make the world a bit better. This doesn’t, of course, explain some of the self-centred twats in parliament at the moment!

In terms of earning less - it would be difficult but I'm hoping to get myself in a financial position where I can afford to earn less in 3-4 yrs time so I can think about it more seriously.

Might have all calmed down by then though 🤷🏻‍♀️

The fact that many take a pay cut to become an MP just illustrates just how many of the sort of people who become MPs are not representative of the majority of the population. The ex investment bankers, those backed by family etc.
How can they fully represent when they don’t have a decent life experience to draw upon?

Also we need to move away from first past the post to proportional representation. The main political parties were founded in a very different era - they don’t have answers to many of the problems faced by people today.

The rise in social media doesn’t help either. It fuels hate and discourages polite respectful discussion between adults, it really does. If we spoke more face to face and put our phones down, we would be happier I suspect. Instead we’ve become anxious as we are fed stories which tap into our fears.

“Status and power.”

I think a lot of people are conflating “MP” and “Front Bencher” There is a big difference.

If your salary is £75,000, then after tax and national insurance you will be left with £52,036. This means that after tax you will take home £4,336 every month, or £1,001 per week, £200.20 per day, and your hourly rate will be £36.05 if you're working 40 hours/week.
No MP works a 40 hour week.

Sorry - just reading more of the thread.

I would take a pay cut to do something meaningful. Something where I'm actually making a really tangible and concrete difference to people's lives.

At the moment mostly I just make American shareholders richer, most of which I probably wouldn't even like if I met them I suspect.

wheresmymojo you might not care what people think of you.

Could you explain to your kids why they must not answer the phone at home or must never open the front door? Why you have CCTV and panic buttons all over your house? Why all your door locks & Window locks had to be replaced? (Some MPs have panic rooms at home) Why your house is flagged on the police database & you have regular visits from the police? Why their school and teachers have to be informed? Why you have to spend time in court giving evidence about the fact that someone said they wanted to kill your children?
Could your family cope with going out for a meal & people shouting abuse at you?

‘No MP works a 40 hour week’
DH certainly works more than that.

They get very long holidays away from Parliament and they have the freedom to take other jobs on £79k (it’s £79k not £75k).

Further more they get significant expenses to help with:

Travel, rent and associated costs (eg utility, council tax), staffing etc.

I think that they get a very decent package so let’s not claim that they’re underpaid by any means.

The ‘holidays’ are mostly spent working in the constituency.
(I know there are rubbish MPs who don’t do that)

“ They get very long holidays away from Parliament”

For backbenchers, Parliament is the least important part of their jobs.

“ Further more they get significant expenses to help with:

Travel, rent and associated costs (eg utility, council tax), staffing etc”
Which get spent on those things. Do you think they should be paying them out of their salaries?

Genetic

I'm not belittling what MPs go through. I personally could cope with all of that, yes.

I'm extremely resilient though as I went through an abusive childhood which has made me pretty impervious to anything negative.

I don't doubt that DH and kids (we currently haven't been able to have any yet but fingers crossed) would potentially need support.

GeneticTest - exactly. That is the reality - and I am sorry it has to be like that. So stressful. Always to be in a state of heightened awareness like that. And a very real risk that you face. I had no idea it was as bad as that.

( I decided to give up the campaign I was involved in when my SN son was cornered on the way home from school by an adult and threatened. My car was vandalised one night and some bastard who thought he could intimidate me stood in front of my car and prevented me from driving away. My DS was terrified). I gave up, we moved, we are now anonymous. (It was a very local campaign)

@BertrandRussell I think that the package that MPs currently get is very generous and enough to support their role.

AgeShallNotEitherHer I’m sorry to hear that. Local campaigns can be brutal & very personal.

...and yes...I'd have to take a pay cut.

But that doesn't automatically mean I'm out of touch with 'ordinary people'.

I had a hard upbringing in Stoke in a very abusive situation and then with a single Mum and very little money. I went to a comprehensive. My closest friend is a cleaner.

Just because I'm doing well now doesn't mean I have a silver spoon(!)

Genetic ‘No MP works a 40 hour week’
DH certainly works more than that.

That's what I meant. Most work many, many more hours than that. Right now they are probably working around double that.