I am rarely in two minds. But I am on this one.
One does not hear of teachers or nurses on rather less than the annual median wage for full-time work (about twenty-five thousand pounds) dying of starvation in London. And their travel, accommodation and so much else are not paid separately out of tax-free expenses.
Nor, however, are they trying to get anything done in the House of Commons, which would require them to maintain at least polite relations with MPs. Dennis Skinner takes what is, after all, the rate for the job. George Galloway does. Dai Davies does. Bob Wareing does. Tony Benn always did.
The only MPs who ever didn’t were (at least in theory) Trotskyist opponents of the parliamentary process itself, with Trotskyists’ ambivalence and semi-detachment where the unions and union mores were concerned.
Being a folk hero to the (very well-remunerated) mass media would not in itself get any legislation enacted, or any Ministerial decisions arrived at, or any questions answered, or anything.
So, what do people think?
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I think you should worry about crossing that bridge only when you come to it.
ReplyDeleteNot at all. I am now being told several times per day that if I signed up to this then I'd go from very likely to win, to absolutely certain. But I'm still not sure, for the reasons set out in this post.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case then you should definitely do it.
ReplyDeleteYou can't do anything unless you are an MP. Maybe if you're there under this banner then people will ignore you. But unlikely.
If you sign up to this, you will be absolutely certain to be an MP. Nothing else matters. Britain needs you.
But I say again that getting anything done once I was there would require me to maintain at least polite relations with other MPs. Dennis Skinner takes what is, after all, the rate for the job. George Galloway does. Dai Davies does. Bob Wareing does. Tony Benn always did.
ReplyDeleteBeing a folk hero to the (very well-remunerated) mass media would not in itself get any legislation enacted, or any Ministerial decisions arrived at, or any questions answered, or anything.
Perhaps if hundreds of us got in at once, all committed to fixing the salary permanently at median earnings for full-time work? That's still quite unlikely, although with a year to go and the Rotten Parliament's standing already in freefall, you never know.
"getting anything done once I was there would require me to maintain at least polite relations with other MPs"
ReplyDeleteWell, in that case, you should reconsider standing. It takes more than polite relations with other MPs to get anything done. The independent/solitary MPs Martin Bell, Richard Taylor, Dai Davies and George Galloway have achieved absolutely sweet bugger all for their constituencies.
"getting anything done once I was there would require me to maintain at least polite relations with other MPs"
ReplyDeletePlenty of MPs with particular areas of specialism and interest do well in parliament. Tony Wright. Norman Lamb to name but two. People can't ignore you when you have a mandate for reform from the people of NW Durham, especially if you also have adoration from the media. You'd be the most high profile MP of the 2010 intake, and on a sure path to a Cabinet position or a Select Committee chair if you wanted one . After all, how could they keep you out?
That's very unfair on Taylor (re-elected) and Davies (universally expected to be re-elected), in particular.
ReplyDeleteGalloway has a very poor attendance record. I wouldn't have.
And MPs do of course have national as well as local responsibilities. No one can deny Galloway's profile or reach.
Are you trying to provide a fig lead of coverage for the fact that, after all this, you quite fancy getting the full wage? Are your principles not quite as solid as they once were??
ReplyDeleteYou're right that the already high-profile Galloway has achieved an even higher profile and reach as a national laughing-stock, thanks largely to Celebrity Big Brother, since becoming a Respect MP. As for Taylor and Davies, getting re-elected and actually achieving anything for their constituents are not the same thing, by a long way. What have they achieved? (Lib Dem MPs are similarly good at staying in once they've got in, and similarly largely useless.)
ReplyDeleteTaylor, who was elected twice on a platform focused entirely on restoring emergency care facilities at Kidderminster Hospital, has so far utterly failed to restore emergency care facilities at Kidderminster Hospital. That's pretty useless, but to be fair to him it's not entirely his fault - as an independent MP, he lacks the influence that an MP for either the governing party or the main opposition party would have.
Frai, very easily...
ReplyDeleteAnd the people you list take the full salary.
Ling, my principle on this is, I suppose, the trade union principle of the rate for the job. As for quite fancing sixty-three grand, I honestly don't know what I'd do with it.
"the influence that an MP for either the governing party or the main opposition party would have"
ReplyDeleteKeep telling yourself that, dear...
Further comment would be superfluous.
Why, are you saying that he's achieved something?
ReplyDeleteHe's made the likes of you very angry simply by being there. Which makes him a National Treasure.
ReplyDeleteBut he hasn't Saved Kidderminster Hospital (and yes, since that's his entire platform, that does make me angry). So, on his own terms, he's useless.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you angry is that he is there; that his constituents voted for him, and that repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteNot half as angry as you are over Galloway or Davies, of course. Don't these peasants realise that New Labour has the absolute right to give such seats to any old rubbish it likes? Like you, you hope.
Dream on. It's all coming crashing down around your ears.
Gilbert Grape - quite honestly, I just think that says more about the quality of Taylor than it does about anything else - and I'm confident David would do better. Under your cynicism, we might as well not even bother electing any MPs, since only what the government decide goes. Well no more! David must stand, and he must win.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the extent that this idea of a minimum wage would
- guarantee you winning
- give you great media coverage
- have a lot of quiet support from some MPs
then you must, simply must do it. And consign all this rotten stuff to history.
Seriously, in 20 years time I can see the Durham miners gala having banners and flags with your picture on.
David, your amateur psychoanalysis is never less than entertaining. I'll join in, shall I? People like you always resort to unevidenced claims about their opponents' states of mind when they run out of arguments.
ReplyDeletePrez, it's kind of you, but I honestly doubt that in 20 years time the Durham Miners Gala will have banners and flags with my picture on.
ReplyDeleteKeep on proving my point, Gilbert.
ReplyDeletePrez, well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. (And which MPs would give even "quiet" support to this?)
Encased in glass alongside the stairs leading up to the recently abolished Derwentside District Council Chamber hung a very good example of The Perfect Craftsman, a traditional trade union banner depicting the adolescent Jesus apprenticed in Saint Joseph's carpenter's shop. How everything in that sentence speaks of what has been stolen from us.
We used to march behind it at the Durham Miners' Gala. I trust, though, that it has not been stolen. It belonged to a dear and now deceased friend and mentor of mine. Does anyone happen to know where it has gone, and that it is safe? Email me, rather than going off-topic here. Very many thanks.
Gilbert, if it were up to you, then everyone at it would be imprisoned under "anti-terrorist" legislation.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, back on topic.
It's very simple. You have a strong and unique campaigning point here. You claim you don't need the money. It would give so much legitmacy to your campaign to clean up politics.
ReplyDeleteWhat's to argue against?
All the things I set out before.
ReplyDeleteNot least, that this is historically siding with the Trots against the trade unions.
Well you don't sound in two minds. you sound as if your mind is made up.
ReplyDeleteOh, would that it were.
ReplyDeleteConvince me people, convince me.
Yes, it would be very popular. So would a lot of things. I need more than that.
It's not only the boost to your popularity. It's your status as moral exemplar.
ReplyDeleteThink about it. Young, indpendent, elected on a platform quite at odds with anything in mainstream politics and taking a worker's wage? You'd cause shock waves. People - MPs - would have to rethink everything they knew about politics. You might even be the vanguard of a revolution - you'd certainly open some eyes.
Dont' do it for you. Do it for the country.
On the downside, most people would think you were a bit of a poser.
ReplyDeleteNo, don't do it. You'll have worked damn hard for this - you'll deserve to be paid.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, considering all that is stacked against you, if you become an MP I will personally start a position for you to be paid with your own weight in gold. It'd be no less than fair.
Why not take the full wage, but donate the excess to a worthy charity?
ReplyDeleteI agree that this would come across as very egotistical.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're considering the risks to yourself here. There are 645 other MPs, and you'll be making them all look bad. You're worried about being shut out of power but it's worse than that. I don't think it's at all illogical to suppose that, if you become an MP, your days will be numbered.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone.
ReplyDeleteLiam, I wouldn't go that far, but I still think that if I went ahead with this then no one else in the place would be prepared to work with me on anything. So what would be the point of being there? Sad, but true.
Unless anyone can convince me otherwise. I'd love them to. But no one has managed as yet.
If you became a minister, would you decline your ministerial salary too, and just take a worker's wage?
ReplyDeleteI thought you had some principles, David. You made me believe in politics again. And now this.
ReplyDeleteOne thing at a time, Prez.
ReplyDeleteBut there we have the problem: I have in the past criticised people like Shaun Woorward and Lord Sainsbury for not taking the rate for the job. The labourer is worthy of his hire.
And now what, Petey?
ReplyDeleteYou've sold out, man. You've sold out.
ReplyDeleteAt least we'll be able to say we knew David before he went all commercial.
ReplyDeleteMike's suggesion is very much what Dave Nellist used to do and he used to win Spectator Backbencher of the Year, voted for by other MPs.
ReplyDelete"I have in the past criticised people like Shaun Woorward and Lord Sainsbury for not taking the rate for the job. The labourer is worthy of his hire."
ReplyDeleteIn that case, the same applies to being an MP. You have to be consistent, and take the full salary.
Yes, Jack, and that was at the height of Thatcherism. I think we might have found the way round it here. After all, they are still going to pay me the salary automatically. It's a matter of what I do with it once I have it. Yes, this really could work, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteLoathe that I am to say it but Sinn Féins Stormont Assembly members only take an average wage. The rest is actually pooled for the benefit of the terro......er I mean party.
ReplyDeleteWhile they obviously dont get a Westminster salary, they get very generous Westminster expenses for second homes.....all paid at over the top rate to an Irish landlord.
The peculiar thing about this arrangement is that the electorate approves presumably because the electorate does not accept they are doing anything wrong.
"Disability Living Allowance claims" in "Norn Iron" are also considerably higher than in say Durham.
Not an issue anyone actually WANTS to address. It used to be called Danegelt (sp) whereby terrorists were bought off.
It's very visibly not their only income, what with Gerry Adams's holiday home in Donegal and all the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteOh, well, I suppose all that money still going into the collecting tins on the bars of Boston must be spent somehow these days.
Any news on who the Labour candidate is going to be?
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly they never invested in the Northern Bank. Allegedly.
ReplyDeleteThe Boston Bar thing is now alas an urban myth. They have considerably more irons in several more fires. Allegedly.
Annie, within the last 24 hours, I have asked that very question of technically still one of the most senior Labour figures around here, at least until the direct debit cancellation shows up. The answer was "Who gives a f**k?"
ReplyDeleteSorry, did you just use the words "folk hero" about yourself?
ReplyDeleteI said it's what I don't want to be. They never really get anything done.
ReplyDelete