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the idea that the only reward from work or production is monetary is one of the bigger problems…the over inflated wages at the tops of banking and industry are a symptom of the problem, not an aspiration

Exactly.

Huge Tory energy in this thread at the mo. Thatcher would be proud.

If only we, the people, had any say in this - ideally including ab regular mechanism by which we could select or deselect these people in power? Sadly, we get what we deserve to a large extent... And this current shitshow doesn't speak very highly of us.

You should be an MP.

Fuck, if the people get the MPs they deserve and they deserve me, we really are in a worse situation than previously feared...

It's kind of true though. There are lots of supporting elements to a functional democracy. Not least of all an independent free press and equipping your population to make informed decisions (see inclusion of civics and critical history on school syllabuses in various EU nations).

Fuck it, let's get rid of the lot and everyone has to do an hour of digital country voting a night after strictly. Destruction by referendum, presented by Dermot O'Leary.

Competent administrators aren’t earning multiples of the UK average salary. If you’re talking more about departmental leadership, £80k is still very high in many industries.

I also don't think it's a quasi religious thing to want serve people despite being able to earn more elsewhere

E.g. nurses.

Ha!

If Geoffrey Cox is earning £1m a year from his second job, he is (in theory), paying £400K of that in tax - enough to fund his second home, his staff, his constituency office and all his expenses, making him, by a clear margin, the best value-for-taxpayer money MP of all.

If you’re talking more about departmental leadership

I don't think we are talking about departmental leadership, we're talking about the position of MP - certainly at ministerial level - being significantly higher than that.

£80K is high nationaly but, as has been said, not high for a leadership position at any number of large companies.

I've had the privilege of going to some good schools and unis (online brag I know) and amongst all the ambitious people I studied with, pretty much nobody expressed the slightest desire to become an MP.

Actually, one girl I knew in high school became an MP after rising through the ranks of the youth party structure. She got kicked out of parliament in her first term (I think) over a bonkers expenses scandal. The only other MP I am vaguely acquainted with from school/uni days is the classic scion of old money who 'went into politics'. His passive income from inherited wealth is widely known to dwarf his MP salary.
Other than that, nobody I've been to school with mentioned even once that politics could be a full time career prospect for them. I'd wager that if only 2% of young people worked as hard at going into local or national politics as they do with any other career ambitions, society would be in a much better place.

So yes, I am in favour of upping their wages. Plus one could think of some other perks or improvements to their day to day lives – perks more meaning ful than just giving them free shit for their houses or paying for their moat cleaning services mind you.

It wasn't that long ago that the House of Parliament was structured to let true professionals maintain their day job, with parliamentary business starting at 2pm, with voting at 10pm.

One Liverpool/Manchester barrister commuted each evening to vote in person.

The Civil Service are the 'competent adminstrators'.

Term limits would be good. Seat blockers like David Amess achieve close to zero across 20/30 years in parliament. He was little more than a distant local councillor.

I'm not sure if being a leader in business and earning buttloads means you're qualified to represent the people.

£80k is still very high in many industries.

I can’t even fathom what we can spend that much money on.

So it’s either/or? People can only have one motivation?

I can’t even fathom what we can spend that much money on

Tesla lease payments, a flashy watch and school fees.

amongst all the ambitious people I studied with

So yes, I am in favour of upping their wages. Plus one could think of some other perks or improvements to their day to day lives

Fuck that shit, personal ambition isn't necessarily a bad trait per se, but I don't think it's going to be the best trait in someone who is essentially a servant of the people, or at least should be. I'm not sure we should be trying to attract personally ambitious, money and power driven people to the post of MP when all the personally ambitious, money and power driven people currently in charge are doing such a self serving, population fucking job of it. If only we could attract people with more personal ambition, and a bigger drive for money and power doesn't seem like the answer.

In theory... he's been working for the BVI helping them pay no tax, so I'm guessing he knows a thing or two about tax avoidance

I can’t even fathom what we can spend that much money on.

Yup, just looked at some numbers. Leasing a new Tesla and having two kids in a half decent London private school will cost you about £80k per year (taking normal income tax into account).

Missing the obvious fact that anyone earning that much is also paying some good lawyers/accountants to reduce their tax to that of a KFC worker.

And he claimed 49p for a pint of milk... I was under the impression public sector workers had to buy their own milk, tea bags etc.

Midgets, cocaine, therapy

I dunno, wasn’t your point that paying MPs more would remove the ideologues from parliament? Which seems to indicate a belief that the financially motivated aren’t also driven by ideology.

A fair chunk of that will go in tax but it would also let one half of a couple do something that isn’t work (although of course they will ‘work’ in the MP’s office).

And then as @Stonehedge says, all the luxury trappings of the golf-clubist have to be paid for.

I think its a bit weird to assume you need to be super ambitious and money grabbing to want more than £80k / year. Has anyone looked at house prices lately? The housing system is f*cked up, yes, which means you need a big income to be able to buy a home that would be classed as a reasonable family home in lots of parts of the country. Are we arguing anyone who wants a moderately comfortable lifestyle is Thatcherite scum?