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Ministers admit: 'We pay our husbands and wives'
Nick Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent12 Mar 2009
Nearly 30 members of the Government employ their family at the taxpayer's expense, the Evening Standard reveals today.
They include four Cabinet members who are using public funds to pay for their spouses, partners or children to be on their staff.
Among the claimants are Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, housing minister Margaret Beckett, Europe minister Caroline Flint, children's minister Beverley Hughes and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, who all attend Cabinet.
Armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth, transport minister Paul Clark, defence minister Quentin Davies, environment minister Jane Kennedy, education minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry, foreign office minister Bill Rammell, Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson, work and pensions minister Jonathan Shaw, overseas aid minister Michael Foster and communities minister Iain Wright also have their spouses or other relatives working for them.
Salaries for parliamentary office staff range from £13,500 to just over £40,000.
Deputy chief whip Tommy McAvoy is among eight members of the Government's whips office who employ family members, as do at least five parliamentary private secretaries.
There is no suggestion that any of the MPs have broken any parliamentary rules on employing family members, many of whom work long hours during the week and at weekends.
However, the practice was cast into the spotlight by the Derek Conway scandal after it emerged that he was employing both his sons and his wife.
Mr Conway was suspended from the Commons and ordered to repay £13,000 following an inquiry into his "employment" of his son Freddie as a researcher while he was studying at Newcastle University. He is still employing his wife Colette as office manager.
The fact that so many members of the Government are employing family members has raised fresh questions over the use of public money.
Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, told the Evening Standard today: "This is yet another sign that the way Westminster works is outdated and out of touch with the working practices in the rest of the country.
"We are constantly told that politicians deserve large salaries because they are like executives of large firms. In reality, no private sector executive could turn up and employ spouses or children to work in their office."
MPs, including former Conservative leader Michael Howard, Sir George Young, chairman of the Commons standards and privileges committee, shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, and senior Lib-Dem David Heath, also declare in the Commons Register of Members' Interests that relatives are on their staff.
Alan Keen, Labour MP for Feltham and Heston, employs his son David as constituency manager and senior caseworker.
Mr Keen and his wife Ann, a health minister, have faced controversy over the use of public funds to pay for a second home close to Westminster when they have a constituency home nine miles away.
Office managers and executive secretaries are paid between £21,320 and £40,052, senior research/parliamentary assistants £27,780 to £40,052, senior secretaries £17,443 to £30,363, junior secretaries £14,212 to £25,195, senior caseworkers £17,443 to £29,716, caseworkers £13,566 to £25,195 and research/parliamentary assistants between £14,212 and £34,240.
The Government is expected to publish the list of ministerial interests today which may give greater insight into their links to business and any potential conflicts of interests they or their families may have.
They could include the financial dealings of ministers' wives and children.
Ministers will have to declare for the first time "relevant interests of spouse, partner or close family members".
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has sparked controversy by refusing to reveal his ministerial interests before the official list is published. His department rejected freedom of information requests to disclose information in advance.
The new list is expected to reveal more information about the peer's transitional funding package after he stepped down as European Trade Commissioner to join the Government.
The documents could also shed some light on the financial affairs of supermarket heiress Camilla Sainsbury as her husband Shaun Woodward is Ulster Secretary.
However, David Cameron could also come under pressure to publish a similar list for the Tory frontbench.
Labour has repeatedly sought to exploit the fact that several shadow Cabinet members have a string of directorships which could raise questions of conflicts of interests if they become ministers.
The list of ministerial interests was due to have been published last autumn but was put back following the Cabinet reshuffle.
MPs have been hit with repeated controversies about their use of public funds, particularly the second home allowance.
Home Secretary Ms Smith caused a storm after it emerged that she had declared a London home that she shares with her sister as her main residence which enabled her to claim the second home allowance on her constituency home.
Reader views (28)
And to complete the picture what are the pensions given to these family employees? No doubt we are paying for generous pensions for them as well.
- Wpaoncb, Dronfield England, 16/03/2009 07:48
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As a person who has employed numerous staff over a 40+ year period I would say that you are unable to employ your wife properly. 1. You cant sack her, 2, you cant tell her to work when you want her to work, and some wives have had very little training in office/research work which this job would demand. It would be far better to employ someone with office experience,on a rolling monthly contract, rent an inexpensive office where you could also meet constituents, and leave your family life seperate.
- Jim@Sea, Offshore, 13/03/2009 07:34
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All cabinet ministers should be banned from employing any family member to assist them in their already highly paid roles as government officials. This like their second home allowances (any many others!) yet again makes a mockery of 'serving their country'.
- Nick Argles, Thailand, 13/03/2009 01:43
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what about "equal opportunities" and discrimination - presumably these "jobs" aren't advertised?
- Lee, London, 12/03/2009 19:25
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Oh dear this is a breach of the equal opportunities policy for employees and if they are not doing the required job it would be a criminal offence in taking a pecuniary advantage by deception.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, England, 12/03/2009 18:58
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Makes you wonder why we have to pay such high taxes in this country. We are paying for the relatives of incompetent politicians now too. Enough is enough. Is this a joke? It is called cronyism. It would be right for such politicians to admit that they abused their position and resign. Who this work in the private sector they think? Again, over and over politicians get away with it. Time for the citizens and taxpayers to start complaining louder and demand accountability.
- Constantine, London, 12/03/2009 17:55
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Nothing we don't already know. Not worth commenting anything else.
- Phil George, Castro Marim Portugal, 12/03/2009 17:47
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Best comment from Gabrielle. Talk about double standards!
- Nick (Expat), Hong Kong, 12/03/2009 16:51
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What a surprise, the only group of people in the country who set their own pay are also ensuring that that their family profits. Pigs, Snouts, Troughs anyone?
- Jim, London, 12/03/2009 16:42
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whilst it may not breach the letter of the legislation,
it does stretch the spirit of it. no doubt a few of the nearest, and perhaps dearest do a grand job, but a good few are just there for the extra and perhaps well easy
contribution to the family fortunes.
from a pr point of view it might be best if the practice was discouraged, if not banned.
- M.O'Brien, london.uk, 12/03/2009 16:07
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If this is the case, surely we must now investigate the productivity of these people, if it turns out to be the case that these MP's are indeed fraudulently fleecing the tax payer then they should be named, shamed and then dismissed out of office - I though new labour were going to end sleeze, surely now they have bitten more than they can chew - in the case of Anne Keene, I will personally stand up as an independant candidate for Isleworth inorder to throw her from her thrown.
- Raminber Bhalla, Northolt, 12/03/2009 15:35
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Come on, own up, who voted for these cronies, not just once, not just twice, but THREE TIMES !!!
- Steve Morgan, Surbiton, 12/03/2009 15:13
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These jobs are paid for by taxpayer's money and not by a private insitution. Hence, the jobs should be advertised and the family members can apply. However, the job should be given to the best applicant. Ridiculous how the Labour Government harps on about Fat Cats when they themselves are exactly that but with Taxpayers money.
- Jk, Kent, 12/03/2009 15:08
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Shallotman has hit the nail on the head - there is nothing wrong with employing a member of your family providing that it has been demonstrated that they are the best person for the job through a transparent and fair recruitment process, necessarily interviewing other candidates. If it then turns out that Granny, Grandad, Great Uncle Bill and baby Jack are unsuitable for the job, your wife is clearly the successful candidate.
- Kitty, London, 12/03/2009 14:33
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Who in their right mind would vote for anyone in parliament? We certainly wont be. At least we now know the type of people our MPs are. Only once to my knowlege has it ever been mentioned who was responsable for this coming out. It was Michael Barnbrook retired police inspector and candidate for Bexley BNP, Derek Conway's constituency. He lost there recently by nine votes. There have been many others he has exposed including Nicholas and Lady Winterton. Parliament appears to be in charge of the media. The papers are full of this, but nothing about the person who exposed it. Strange that.
- Sylvia, Epping Essex, 12/03/2009 14:09
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Blimey - I remember the hammering I got from the Inland Revenue when I (very briefly) worked as my husband's secretary when his regular secretary was off sick. I felt I was some sort of criminal trying to fleece HM Government when all I was doing was filling in to help out and trying to explain that I wasn't an employee ... more fool me declaring the few quid I received.
Our government is totally shameless, snouts in the trough all round - I just hope they're saving hard all this lovely cash, since who will want to employ such a dodgy lot when they get slung out post next General Election?
- Gabrielle, London, 12/03/2009 14:05
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These are public sector jobs, with salaries paid by tax payers, so the position should be advertised and suitable applicants interviewed. If, after that process, the family member is the best person, all well and good.
- Charlie, London, 12/03/2009 14:02
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Pigs dipping their snouts into the trough. Many in the U.K. without jobs and getting their homes re-possessed, and here we have the culprits -- who connived with the bankers to keep the heavy credit flowing for 12 years -- with their snouts in the public money trough. It sickens me. I so very desperately want to see the last of the Becketts, the Blears, the Jowells, the Ball/Coopers, the Mandelsons, the Prescotts, the Browns and all of the rest on the gravy train and without the slightest clue as how the rest of the U.K. is suffering. Marie Antoinette is supposed to have said "Let them eat cake!". I think of her when I see the Labour lot.
- Phil Jones, London UK, 12/03/2009 13:59
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If the taxpayer is funding these jobs, why are they not put out for the public to apply.
- Shallotman, Basildon, 12/03/2009 13:46
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Can't say I'm surprised, as Masher stated, well show what we think at the next electin.
Bring it on.
- Malc, London,England, 12/03/2009 13:41
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The Tax Payers Alliance may be good at getting quoted, but there is no real story here, is there?
- Jay, London, 12/03/2009 13:36
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Please just remember when we finally get a chance to show them what we think of them at the Ballot Box.
- Masher, harrow, 12/03/2009 13:06
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Mark Wallace says that "no private sector executive could turn up and employ spouses or children to work in their office." Hasn't he heard of Rupert Murdoch or Robert Maxwell?
This is yet another sign that the Taxpayers Alliance works is out of touch with the working practices in the rest of the country.
- Austen, London, 12/03/2009 12:45
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Now you know why I have lost faith in the three party system in Westminister.
- Joe, Swanley Kent, 12/03/2009 12:38
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Labour MP's lieing and stealing, now that's something new!
- Brandon Thomas, London, 12/03/2009 12:32
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We are all being taken for absolute mugs by this incompetent bunch of amateur politicians. How much more do we have to take before we blow our fuses? They have destroyed this country and are now openly abusing their rights as MPs and taking us all for a ride.
Enough is enough!
- Margy, London, 12/03/2009 12:09
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Jacqui Smith? Again?? She employs her husband, who stays at her "second" home, while she works from her "first" home? She's having a laugh! At our expense...
- Gc, London, 12/03/2009 11:56
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If the spouse is doing a proper job then there is no problem.
- Humph, Acton England, 12/03/2009 11:53
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