THE prime minister has announced that the only jobs MPs are allowed from now on are Telegraph columnist, writing books about Shakespeare or Mayor of London.
Boris Johnson has vowed to stamp out sleaze by banning MPs from consultancies, lobbying or any jobs that do not involve guesting on Have I Got News For You or speaking at the GQ awards.
He said: “Obviously certain positions enrich not only the individual but the very humours of Parliament, for example writing a weekly column for a right-leaning broadsheet stoking resentment about the EU. That’s to the whole nation’s benefit.
“And if a sitting MP, even one with a key ministerial position, were to write books about great Englishmen like Churchill or Shakespeare for 800 grand a time it would be churlish to stop him.
“Nor should we be short-changing our constituents with time-hungry second jobs. I was in my last year as Mayor when I became an MP so I could do it in my sleep by then. An hour a week running a major metropolis is plenty.
“But roles such as consultant to a sausage manufacturer where the politician is always hanging around the Commons harking on about sausages? They can go. I don’t do any of those.”
Backbench MP Denys Finch Hatton said: “Typical of the prick. Now all I’ll have is the £2,000 a week I make dealing coke for Gove.”