20 2GM Friday March 18 2022 | the times
News
The government is opposing plans to
limit MPs’ earnings from second jobs
months after Boris Johnson vowed to
crack down on politicians who are
“neglecting their duties to their
constituents”.
Ministers told the Commons
standards committee that limits on
either the amount of time MPs could
spend on outside work or the amount
they could earn from other jobs would
be “impractical”.
The committee is consulting on
tougher rules after a bitter row last year
MPs set to escape curbs on second jobs
in which Owen Paterson quit the
Commons over a lobbying scandal.
Downing Street’s attempt to
overhaul the standards rules to help
Paterson resulted in closer scrutiny of
the conduct of his colleagues, including
Sir Geoffrey Cox QC, who has been
paid nearly £6 million for legal work
since becoming an MP.
The government said that “fixed
constraints” on time or earnings
“would not necessarily serve to address
recent concerns over paid advocacy
and the primary duty of MPs to serve
their constituents. It could be possible,
for example, for a member to conduct
work within the accepted time limitsbut that does not necessarily mean
such work is ‘appropriate’ even if it did
not constitute ‘paid advocacy’.”
In a joint submission to the
committee Steve Barclay, the prime
minister’s chief of staff, and Mark
Spencer, leader of the House of
Commons, wrote: “In respect of a cap
on earnings from outside work, to
impose such a limit could serve to
prohibit activities which do not bring
undue influence to bear on the political
system. Earnings from activities such as
writing books, for example, would not
preclude members from meeting their
principal duty to their constituents.”
As the row on outside earnings over-whelmed the government in November,
Johnson called for rules to “ensure that
MPs who are neglecting their duties to
their constituents and prioritising
outside interests” were “appropriately
punished”. Dominic Raab, the deputy
prime minister, suggested that the
government would back a time limit or
an earnings cap, saying: “You could do it
in one of two ways, you could do it by
the amount or you could do it by the
number of hours.”
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the inter-
national trade secretary, called for a cap
of 10 to 15 hours a week on outside work.
Lord Evans of Weardale, chairman of
the committee on standards in public
life, had urged MPs to “set an indicative
limit of hours and remuneration, with a
rebuttable presumption that paid out-
side employment exceeding those limits
would be considered unreasonable”.
But the government’s submission to
the standards committee, first reported
by The Guardian, dismisses the idea,
which the committee had said could be
introduced only if it had “broad cross-
party support”.
Barclay and Spencer said that they
still supported reforms to “restrict the
type of outside work which MPs are
able to undertake”. They opposed the
committee’s suggestion that MPs could
be referred to the parliamentary
commissioner for standards over their
behaviour in the Commons, and also
questioned the idea of blocking MPs
from “subjecting anyone to unreason-
able and excessive personal attack in
any medium”.
Such a provision, the government
said, “would serve inadvertently to
have a chilling effect on debate outside
of parliament, be it in person or online”.Henry Zeffman
Associate Political Editor
Ministers will be able to decide arbitrar-
ily what Britons can say online under
far-reaching internet safety laws,
according to MPs who are demanding
tougher safeguards for free speech.
The 225-page online safety bill was
finally published yesterday after exten-
sive rewriting designed to balance bet-
ter protection for children and the vul-
nerable with the right to freedom of
expression.
Ministers now say they will draw up a
list of “priority” legal but harmful con-
tent that social media companies will
be required to remove from their plat-
forms, and parliament will have to
approve anything added to the list in
future. However, this will only be done
through statutory instruments, (SI),
which are passed without full parlia-
mentary scrutiny.
The Tory MP David Davis, a former
Brexit secretary, warned that the pro-
cess gave ministers too much power to
decide what people could and could not
say online. He said: “How they are going
to do it is through an SI committee, most
of which appointed by whips who are
going to decide what we can or can’t say
online. If you’re going to restrain free
speech you put it in primary legislation,
you don’t hide it away by putting it in a
committee upstairs.”
Nadine Dorries, the culture secre-
tary, insisted that the bill would ensure
that “companies will not be able to
remove controversial viewpoints
arbitrarily”.Not So Hard Times
Charles Dickens exaggerated the
poverty of the Victorian
workhouse for dramatic effect, a
book has claimed. The Working
Class at Home: 1790-1940, says
that the working class were “able
to acquire a wide range of goods”.
Dr Joseph Harley, of Anglia
Ruskin University, a co-editor,
said workers created comfortable
living environments.Unlicensed flights plea
The coroner in Emiliano Sala’s
inquest has urged ministers to
tackle illegal private charter
flights after a jury found that the
footballer died in a crash during
an unlicensed trip from France to
Wales. Sala, 28, was overcome by
carbon monoxide from a faulty
exhaust system. He was travelling
to join Cardiff City in 2019. David
Ibbotson, the pilot, also died.Officer faces 41 charges
David Carrick, 47, a Metropolitan
Police officer, has been charged
with 12 more sex attacks, taking
the total number of charges he
faces to 41 against 11 women,
dating back to 2003. He will
appear before Westminster
magistrates on Monday. Carrick,
a parliamentary and diplomatic
protection officer, was arrested by
Hertfordshire police in October.Dentist’s costly blunder
A dentist has been ordered to pay
£137,000 in damages and costs
after he needlessly pulled out
three teeth while trying to repair
a chipped tooth. Sumit Aggarwal
and the Compass Clinic in north
Norfolk were sued by Lindsey
Harris, 56, a chef who bled for
three days. Central London
county court found them jointly
liable for negligent treatment.AABEEEEE
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RRRS STTTSolve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only1 Before the current time (4)2 Featureless, desolate (6)3 Grasping tool (6)4 Helpful tip (7)5 Powerful propulsion device (3,6)Quintagram®No 1266
Solutions MindGames in Times
Cryptic clues every day onlineMinisters ‘will
decide what
we say online’
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
Louisa Clarence-SmithBoy on terror charge
A 15-year-old boy is due to
appear in court today charged
with the preparation of an act of
terrorism. The teenager, from
Leeds, was charged yesterday
after being arrested on Saturday
as part of what police described
as a planned intelligence-led
operation. He will appear via
video link before Westminster
magistrates, charged with
engaging in the preparation
of an act of terrorism, contrary
to Section 5 of the Terrorism
Act 2006.