MP defends second job
The MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, has defended his second job, saying it is important in helping him keep in touch with the world outside politics.
New rules this week mean MPs must disclose all income and time devoted to second jobs.
Mr Mercer is employed in an advisory role for Olive Group, a global security firm based in London, for which he is paid £18,000 a year.
He has worked for them for about 18 months, on average about a day and a half a month.
Mr Mercer, chairman of the House of Commons Counter-Terrorism Sub-Committee, said they were an extremely important commercial contact for him.
He said the income and amount of time devoted to his second job was modest, but the benefit he got was enormous.
The MP in the neighbouring constituency of Bassetlaw, Mr John Mann, has called for a ban on MPs having second jobs, but Mr Mercer said they were important.
“I really think it is so important for Members of Parliament not to live in a parliamentary bubble, but to talk to real people,” he said.
He said it was also important to realise that the House of Commons was geared to allow MPs to take secondary employment.
As well as his work for Olive Group, Mr Mercer said this year he received two payments of about £4,000-£5,000 from Harper Collins, the publishers of his novel, To Do Or Die.
He said he had written six or seven comment pieces for newspapers this year, receiving £100-£500 per article. The latest, about proposed cuts in the Armed Forces, was in The Times on Friday.
The MP for Rushcliffe, Mr Ken Clarke, is to give up his second jobs by the end of the year.
Mr Clarke, who is shadow business secretary, made nearly £50,000 from outside earnings in the last financial year, according to figures released by the Conservative Party.
He received £38,000 as a non-executive director of the Dublin-based Independent News and Media for whom he worked about one day a month.
Mr Clarke was paid £7,500 as a member of the advisory board for AgCapita Partners, Canada, to which he committed half a day a month, and £3,000 from BBC Radio 4 for presenting jazz programmes.
The Conservative leader, Mr David Cameron, released details of his front-bench team’s extra earnings two days before new rules were enforced on Wednesday.
All the shadow cabinet, which includes Mr Clarke, agreed to give up their outside work by December.
The House of Commons Register of Members’ Interests shows the MP for Sherwood, Mr Paddy Tipping, holds two paid directorships. He is non-executive chairman of both the North Nottinghamshire LIFT Company and Greater Nottingham LIFT Company.
The Register of Members’ Interests can be seen at www.parliament.uk
The MP for Sherwood, Mr Paddy Tipping, is recovering at home after a mild heart attack.
Mr Tipping was admitted to the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, on Saturday morning before being transferred to Nottingham City Hospital earlier this week.
He was allowed home on Wednesday.
In a statement, Mr Tipping said: “I want to thank all the wonderful staff both at the QMC and City hospitals for making my stay comfortable and for the excellent care I received.”
A spokesman at his constituency office said he was responding well to treatment and was under strict instructions to rest.
She said he hoped to be back at work as soon as possible.
Mr Tipping’s office is open for business as usual and constituents who need help should continue to contact the office.
