Sharpe's Opinion
Tuesday, 14th Jul, 2009
Norman Baker Tells Boris Johnson Never to Earn Any Money
Clearly Norman Baker is a complete idiot. He’s criticising Boris Johnson for… Ermm… Making money! And, as if that wasn’t enough, Boris is (sit down for a moment, this is going to come as a shock) not appreciating it enough!
There is nothing wrong with people writing newspaper columns, but this is an enormous amount of money and for Boris Johnson to dismiss it as ‘chicken feed’ shows just how out of touch he and the Conservative party are from the reality of life for millions of Londoners struggling to make ends meet in the depths of a recession
YEAH! You hear that! Boris is Out Of Touch. Because, you know, he writes a popular column and a private company has decided to pay him a large amount of money. Clearly, he should spend every morning prostrate in the Telegraph Offices giving thanks for the contract he has with them, and begging forgiveness for having negotiated it in the first place.
Things like this show what a crapshoot the whole ‘second jobs’ thing is. People welcome MPs like Tom Harris who have blogs, but are criticising Boris Johnson for writing a weekly column that takes far less of his time. The only difference between the two is that Boris is getting paid for it, and Norman Baker wants people to be jealous.
Comments
God knows what the Tories think. Cameron banning the Shadow Cabinet from having jobs was a silly idea done for he benefit of the papers.
If we accept that it’s okay for politicians to do charity work or even write blogs or unpaid, then why do we have a problem when them earning money for their skills? That’s what I meant by ‘a crapshoot’.
Is Baker saying that Boris is somehow taking the food out of the mouths of bairns by daring to earn some money on the side?
I am all for the job of MP being the second job. It should be part time and unpaid.
So David Cameron is passive aggressive. I didn’t know what it meant for a long time. It means you get someone to fight your battles for you.
I should explain how I reached this conclusion. Not many members of the Conservative Party will be offered the rewards that Boris receives. He is in turn providing positive publicity for them. As Boris cuts to the chase and speaks common sense, this has enabled him on his own without hoardes of advisers to gain a following. This must be to the envy of some and regarded as potentially undesirable. Paid jobs for members of the shadow cabinet is not a mainstream topic and should be decided in private. Norman Baker must have a hidden agenda to go on record about this and it does him no credit. Okay if many had paid second jobs and it got in the way of their work, fine but no one has identified Boris becoming neglectful of his duties. Honestly, go and get a life, Conservatives; there is work to be done in a responsible and professional manner which requires thorough preparation to ensure YOUR policies are effective.
Cameron was clearly under pressure from Labour and the media.
Besides, second jobs that take up three days a week are rather different from writing a newspaper column in your own free time – clumping second jobs altogether in one big group is utterly ludicrous.
I’ve seen the Beeb story now and if it is as reported then Boris was pretty silly to put it in those terms. I suspect he meant that the time it takes is “chicken feed” rather than the sums he is paid. But he should have said so rather than giving the impression that he wouldn’t notice a quarter of a million passing through his bank account. It is slight insensitive. There are two things going on here.
That’s an interesting thought, measured – it’s true that Boris has the popular support and reputation needed to be able to say and do things that Cameron can’t getb away with, although I’m not certain they really work that closely together – Boris is pretty independent and Cameron doesn’t necessarily want the liability.
BE – I’m inclined to agree with you, although ‘unpaid’ is pushing it. There’s enough competition to become MPs already, you don’t need massive wages as a further incentive. Public service is motivation in itself, surely!
Re. your second comment, I agree he almost definitely meant that the work is ‘chicken feed’, not the pay. But if he was polished and only ever couched things in terms which never upset anybody, he wouldn’t be Boris. It doesn’t suggest he’s Out Of Touch™, merely that he doesn’t do well in interviews. Baker (and the various newspapers) are making a pretty petty jealous argument over a throwaway comment that means very very little.
LFaT – you’re right that there’s different kinds of second jobs and it depends on the circumstances, but in a way that’s the point I’m making. In the interview, Boris was getting flak not for doing the column but for being paid the money. The ‘no second jobs’ approach ignores the fact that many politicians are perfectly capable of working on books, columns, or all manner of other things (including, you know, being a minister) which are potentially lucrative, without it interfering with their parliamentary duties.
Hang on a sec. It wasn’t Baker who made a big thing about senior Tories not having second jobs – it was Cameron.
Do the Tories think second jobs are OK or not?
Costigan Quist
July 14, 2009 at 7:27 am