Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Some MPs spending a day a week on second jobs
The paper says that their analysis of self-declared working hours found the seven had worked at least 300 hours since July – the equivalent of eight hours a week, in outside employment averaged across the parliament – totalling more than 3,000 hours between them. A further seven MPs had worked at least five hours a week on a second job.
Naturally, the MP who has made the most money from outside employment in this parliament is Nigel Farage, who has declared an average of about 24 hours’ work a week as a cameo creator, GB News presenter, media commentator, public speaker, Telegraph journalist, brand ambassador and social media influencer.
This could explain why Farage has voted in only a third of parliamentary votes so far this parliament, while the average MP has voted 72% of the time, according to figures from the Public Whip. The figures don’t include abstentions, meaning MPs could have been in parliament but not taken a side on an issue:
The analysis excluded billed hours for work in other elected positions – a further 27 MPs had worked an average of one business day a week as a councillor since being elected to the Commons, with some declaring almost 30 hours weekly for their council role. An analysis by ITV News found 26 MPs were still doubling up their job in parliament with their local role, with a majority of those attending fewer than half of council meetings since being elected to parliament.
In total, 236 out of 650 MPs declared at least some outside earnings, working a combined 32,000 hours between them in the first 264 days of parliament. Of those MPs, 105 had declared at least one period of ongoing paid employment, and 164 had declared at least one ad-hoc payment.
The Labour party previously pledged to ban all second jobs, but has since softened its stance to focus on paid advisory or consultancy roles.
In 2011, the Hansard Society found that MPs from the 2010 intake estimated they worked an average of 69 hours a week.
An MP of course, has a duty to his/her constituents and it is for them to determine if he or she is doing the job properly. It is an intensive role, leaving me to wonder how somebody like Farage could do it properly with so many other roles.
