It would be folly to put a total ban on second jobs for MPs

‘No conflict of interest – that is why regulation really matters’

- Stephen Pollard

IF YOU were trying to come up with the best argument against MPs being allowed to have second jobs, it would be hard to better the case of Geoffrey Cox.

The former Attorney General’s second job appears to be more like his main focus, with his role as an MP coming a distant second. He left the country – and his constituents – for months to act as a barrister for and in a tax haven, and then when he was back in Westminster seems to have used his office to take part in a case remotely.

And then, of course, there is Owen Paterson, whose breach of the rules governing MPs’ lobbying was so flagrant that the only way his mates could try to help him was by changing the rules retrospectively. Let’s just say that attempt hardly ended well, with the former Cabinet minister now an ex-MP and the whole issue of sleaze and second jobs at the forefront of politics.

But the whole point of having rules is to ensure that when someone breaks them, there are consequences. That’s why the current system was set up – because in the 1990s some MPs were getting away with behaviour that was clearly wrong, such as asking questions in the Commons on behalf of a company or body which was paying them, and not making that clear. There are now calls for an investigation into Mr Cox to see if he has broken the rules.