MP to quit over second job rules

Labour MP Howard Stoate has said he will quit at the next election because new second jobs rules mean he will no longer be able to practise as a GP. I think this is a shame. I would have thought the leaders of the parties in the Commons could have been a little more sensitive and serious about this attack on second jobs. It is in part a reaction to Conservative MPs and the negative publicity that went with expenses scandal. Some Labour MPs jumped at the chance to be spiteful, not least Harriet Harman, who has a frenetic mind when it comes to petty jealousies. So in the scrum for perceived political cleanliness, the good go down with the ugly, leaving the rest to turn out as possible bad MPs as far as having had a life is concerned.

I would not bother with second incomes. Personally I couldn't stand being represented by a robotic lobby fodder merchant, who just did as told. Dr.Stoate says, "It is apparent that Labour candidates standing for Parliament at the next election will be expected to give up their outside jobs if they are elected. I respect this view but I think my own contribution to the work of Parliament would be diminished if I was to give up general practice, which is why I have decided not to stand as a candidate at the next general election." Sad reflection on the current lemming-like desire for apparatchik politicians.

Dr.Stoate will have contributed far more that someone coming out of a researcher's office at 22 and "never looking back"!

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