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Couldn't agree more.
I know two people from university who are now Tory MPs (one a treasury minister, the other a PPS to one of the most senior roles in cabinet). Neither of them was remarkable academically. Both of them were the sort of weirdos who were prominent in the union and the student conservative association. Both of them were from very wealthy backgrounds. Both of them had bang-average professional careers (law and finance), where they were left behind by their more able peers. Nonetheless, they will be running the country in the near future.
I also know two people who were from single-parent, working class backgrounds. Both got firsts. Both made remarkable progress in their professional careers (engineering and economics respectively). Both are Labour supporters, and would probably walk straight into the front bench on ability. They deservedly earn six-figure salaries. Wouldn't you want them in parliament? They would be running circles around the first two chancers.
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I also know two people who were from single-parent, working class backgrounds. Both got firsts. Both made remarkable progress in their professional careers
And there's class of course. Someone who didn't grow up with connections will have a much harder time deciding to take a break from their decently paid engineering career (or whatever) for an exhausting gig halfway across the country that could spit them out again in four years time.
Meanwhile mediocre upper middle class MPs who are likely to lose the next round of elections can just start putting out the feelers in their network and land a cushy PR gig.
So yeah, taking that risk should be compensated for. Maybe a perk could be preferential access to civil service jobs back in their constituency for MPs who doesn't get re-elected?
starfish&coffee
Yeah completely, I just find it weird in a London based forum for so many people to be arguing that people might feel they need money to get by (even whilst recognising that the fact they need so much shows the system isn’t working well).
The people who this hits seem to be those who aren’t independently wealthy but who have done pretty well so have relatively high incomes. That seems to be a demographic we should want some of in parl.
Instead, we get a mix of (1) old money / already minted and hence full Thatcherite; (2) people who couldn’t earn more elsewhere; and (3) ideologues (which could be a good or bad thing, depending what ideals they are pushing)