Morning:
10°c
Tory policy chief Oliver Letwin is paid £60,000 a year for an eight-hour week by an investment bank, it was revealed today.
The disclosure of his £145-an-hour part-time earnings from NM Rothschild fuelled the controversy over MPs' second jobs.
Mr Letwin is overseeing the Conservative election manifesto and wields immense influence over the party's economic and industrial policy.
Other MPs with lucrative outside jobs include former industry minister Ian McCartney, reportedly earning £113,000 a year from an American nuclear energy operator.
Like Mr Letwin, Mr McCartney was said to be giving up the second job before new rules next month that will force all MPs to disclose how much they earn outside Parliament and how many hours they put in.
Reader views (4)
Do not be at all surprised to know that the pigs in the House of Conmen have far more than one snout.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK, 25/06/2009 15:45
Report abuse
It is strange how all the MPs with second jobs work for top level businesses and not for the NHS or in education - this must be a conflict of interest for these top level businesses having such influence on Parliament with no tory MPs having an interest in 'businesses' that look after the greater good of the voters by working in the NHS, etc.
Do these MPs want to serve the voters or do they want to line their own pockets? They can't do both.
If Cameron allows them to continue taking 2nd, 3rd or 4th jobs (surely more than one second job should not be allowed) then the salaries/expenses as an MP should be reduced on a pro rata basis.
- Andy, london, 25/06/2009 11:29
Report abuse
Wouldn't it be reasonable for the Bank, and any other employer Oliver Letwin has, to share the costs of his ACA on his second home(s). Presumably Mr Letwin still works part-time in his other employments during the long Parliamentary recesses, so still has to travel up from his family home and stay in London, or does he commute on a daily basis when the House is in recess?
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain, 25/06/2009 10:31
Report abuse
Is Mr Letwin also going to publish how much Tax he paid on his two salaries? It would also be fair for his Bank to contribute to the costs of his London Home and travel expenses rather than having the Taxpayer cover the whole amount as Mr Letwin presumably works for the Bank during the long Parliamentary Vacations but still travels to London from his constituency and stays in one of his two London homes.
- F Skate, Hammersmith England, 25/06/2009 10:05
Report abuse
