MPs using your tax money to employ own relatives

Nepotism is a part of life. Westmonster has come to accept this. Sure, there may be cases in which it is utterly disgusting and inexcusable (Max Gogarty, anyone?), but the fact remains: we've all accepted the odd favour from a friend or relative. It's just the way life works.

That's why we approached this story with a degree of hesitation. If the family member of a certain MP has been given a job due to their connections, is that really worth oodles of seething uproar? We'd be tempted to say no ... until we dug a little deeper.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Richard Timney. He's the husband of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. And he recieves a nice little pay packet of between £27,780 and £40,052 each year for being her "senior research/parliamentary assistant".

He's not alone, however. Oh, no - that job title looks like one hell of a popular one, what with the husband of Housing Minister Caroline Flint and daughter of Tory MP George Young enjoying a similar career path. Whether George Galloway employs his entire extended family as 'ego wranglers' has yet to be confirmed.

Shadow Commons Leader Theresa May has been casting a sceptical eye over proceedings:

"In principle, there is nothing wrong with employing family members, but it is important that we have openness and transparency so that the system is not abused."

And many thanks to her third cousin twice-removed for coming up with that quote.

Written by C J Davies on 25 Apr 2008 12:00 AM. There are 1 comments so far. Permalink