Speaker John Bercow warns David Cameron on MP's Pay

Speaker John Bercow warns David Cameron on MPs' pay


John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, has warned David Cameron not to “appease” public opinion by blocking large rises in backbench MPs’ “ordinary” salaries.








A new survey has found that the majority of MPs are calling for higher wages Photo: Geoff Pugh






By James Kirkup

10:00PM GMT 28 Jan 2013


522 Comments




Mr Bercow said that MPs “resent” moves by independently wealthy party leaders like the Prime Minister to prevent increases in their pay, currently £65,738. Trying to block rise would not be “terribly clever or brave”, he said.


The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is considering MPs’ pay. Submissions to its review by MPs suggest that members believe their salaries should rise by a third to more than £86,000.


The Speaker made the comments at a Westminster reception last week. The Daily Telegraph has seen a record of his remarks.


Mr Bercow said that Ipsa should be left alone to decide on any pay rise for MPs without “interference” from the Prime Minister and other party leaders.


In the past, he suggested, party leaders have tried to score political points by promising to give up pay rises or other benefits.



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In 2011, Mr Cameron ordered Conservative MPs to vote against a 1 per cent pay rise recommended by an independent review. He has also told ministers to waive pay rises.

Such sacrifices are meaningless to leaders with private wealth and Government salaries, but painful to rank-and-file members, Mr Bercow said.

“I think I'm entitled on behalf of the great majority of my colleagues who are just on an ordinary backbencher's salary to say that there must be automaticity about it,” he said. “When Ipsa decides what the rise -- no rise, or low rise, or high rise -- should be, it should take effect immediately, and the party leaders mustn't do what they’ve always done."

He added: “The generals have always abandoned the troops and engaged in a Dutch auction to appease the public by saying ‘Well of course, I won't take a rise, I will tell my colleagues that they shouldn't take a rise'."

When Ipsa takes control over MPs’ pay, Mr Bercow said he would appeal to Mr Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband “not to feel the temptation to interfere.”

The Speaker also highlighted the privileged background of leaders, including Mr Cameron, which he suggested allowed them to make gestures over their pay without feeling any personally financial pain.

“I do think there is some historical resentment that party leaders who either had a higher salary by virtue of their office or who have had access to other sources of finance…have been very quick to tell ordinary MPs what they should and shouldn’t be paid,” he said.

“When you’ve got other means from whatever source, it’s quite easy to do that and I don’t think it’s terribly clever or brave."

Mr Bercow’s remarks may be welcomed by backbench MPs, but are unlikely to ease his strained relations with the Prime Minister and other Conservative ministers.

A former Conservative MP who became estranged from his party, Mr Bercow was elected Speaker only because of Labour support. Many senior Conservatives believe he now uses his position against the party and the Prime Minister.

Cameron's answer to Bercow

Nice one malena.....was it all your own work?

Panda wrote:Nice one malena.....was it all your own work?

I must confess Panda I 'borrowed' the picture from your post...

malena stool wrote:

Panda wrote:Nice one malena.....was it all your own work?

I must confess Panda I 'borrowed' the picture from your post...

That's O.K., it's the words that counted.

I posted on will Cameron win....an interesting article where Cameron has to be told the difference between "debt" and deficit " , he was educated at Eton???

Sadly education and knowledge often times has nothing to do with life's achievements.

The formula for high rank is seemingly directly proportional to thickness of skull multiplied by bank balance, greed and narcissism, if the experience of our political leaders since Callaghan is anything to go by.

malena stool wrote:Sadly education and knowledge often times has nothing to do with life's achievements.

The formula for high rank is seemingly directly proportional to thickness of skull multiplied by bank balance, greed and narcissism, if the experience of our political leaders since Callaghan is anything to go by.

I'm serious now Malena, I really do despair of British Politicians . I was reading an article about prisoners re-offending which not surprisingly is on the increase. Instead of languishing in Jail, do like the U.S., take them out digging up roads,helping Farmers etc. With the anklets they have to wear they could soon be traced if they tried to abscond, which they won't want to do because they know when they are well off. This MP vows to reduce the rise in re-offenders by giving them longer sentences.!!!

Panda wrote:

malena stool wrote:Sadly education and knowledge often times has nothing to do with life's achievements.

The formula for high rank is seemingly directly proportional to thickness of skull multiplied by bank balance, greed and narcissism, if the experience of our political leaders since Callaghan is anything to go by.

I'm serious now Malena, I really do despair of British Politicians . I was reading an article about prisoners re-offending which not surprisingly is on the increase. Instead of languishing in Jail, do like the U.S., take them out digging up roads,helping Farmers etc. With the anklets they have to wear they could soon be traced if they tried to abscond, which they won't want to do because they know when they are well off. This MP vows to reduce the rise in re-offenders by giving them longer sentences.!!!

I seem to remember reading a long while back that 'chain gangs' wouldn't be used in the UK because it could upset union members by taking work from them. More recently Andrew Percy, Tory MP has suggested that prison chain gangs could be used...

http://www.care2.com/causes/prisoners-should-work-in-chain-gangs-says-british-tory-mp.html

Prisoners Should Work In Chain Gangs, Says British Tory MP
by Judy Molland
April 7, 2012
3:55 pm

Andrew Percy, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Brigg and Goole, in the north east of England, has suggested that prisoners should work in chain gangs to clear litter on the side of major highways.

Percy made the suggestion after becoming concerned about rubbish mounting up by motorways in his constituency, including hundreds of bottles of urine thrown away by lorry drivers.

From The Daily Telegraph:

“In the US I have seen chain gangs out clearing highways – why can’t we do that here?” he said. “We have criminals expected to pay back – why not get them out there doing something of use?”

I’m wondering how and when Mr. Percy has seen chain gangs in the US, since they were phased out years ago in most states, with the exception of Arizona, where in Maricopa County the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio reinstituted chain gangs in 1995. Have you ever visited Arizona, Mr. Percy?

The Tory MP has written to the Highways Agency to complain about growing piles of litter on the M62 and A63 in East Yorkshire following complaints from his constituents.

More wonderful Percy quotes from The Daily Telegraph:

“We need a British equivalent of the US chain gang,” he said. “The only risk we have in this country is there are too many do-gooders claiming it’s against [prisoners’] human rights.

“We don’t necessarily need them to be wearing orange jump suits and chained together, but what we should be looking at is we’ve got all these people sat in prison who could be working in the community.”

It’s true that litter is a problem on England’s motorways, but can this Tory MP find nothing better to complain about?

How about addressing the millions of people on the dole, with no prospect of work, the hundreds of thousands of citizens worried to death whether they can keep paying their mortgages, and the unemployed standing in queues for food handouts?

By contrast, Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary and also a Conservative, is a supporter of short “community sentences” where people work in their neighbourhoods rather than go to prison.

Clarke has also unveiled plans to get prisoners to work for private companies within jails in the hope of instilling a culture of “purposeful hard work”. The minister has promised to double the number of inmates working up to 40 hours per week because they are a “wasted resource”.

I’d also like to point out to Mr. Percy that the US has such a good working prison system that the country has over a quarter of all of the world’s prisoners in their prisons. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to copy this system? Remember too that the penal system in the US teaches people that killing people is wrong by killing people.

Maybe Andrew Percy should first try clearing the rubbish littering the fast lane of the M62 himself.

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