For a grandee of the establishment,
losing an election is but a minor inconvenience. Malcolm Rifkind was ejected
from Edinburgh Pentlands in 1997 only to resurface – shock horror - at Kensington
and Chelsea in 2005. Poor old Malcolm wasn’t the only high profile politician
to be handed a quick return after the pesky electorate dared to reject a pillar
of the establishment. Michael Portillo was granted the same courtesy in 1999 –
also Kensington and Chelsea – after the Blair landslide took a heavy toll on
the tory ‘big beasts’.
After being caught prostituting himself
and his enviable contact list to a bogus Chinese firm, there appears no shred
of contrition. Indeed what do we plebs expect ‘professionals’ such as the
venerable “Sir” Malcolm to do when paid a paltry £60k? It’s actually closer to
£70k ++ but that would weaken the question-begging premise that such a salary
would not attract ‘businessman’ and ‘professionals’. Who says that we want or
necessarily need our parliament stuffed with rapacious city types who are only
attracted by the bottom line?
The idea of public service seems to be
lost on Rifkind. Perhaps he’s not aware that highly educated graduates work for
causes that transcend remuneration? Teacher: Circa £30k; Senior heart surgeon (NHS): circa £100k.
Yes, Rifkind’s private earnings took him well beyond that of somebody at the
top of their profession conducting open-heart surgery. MPs are supposed to
represent us. The average UK salary is £26k – which is itself positively skewed
by stratospheric salaries at the top – while the person who sits in the middle
of UK earners with half below and half above earns £21k. An MP’s salary – I suspect
– would sound very attractive to millions of us. If £67k is not enough for
“Sir” Malcolm, let him retire to some tax haven to enjoy a mutual moan with any
other member of the business and professional elite who feels undervalued or
over taxed by the derisory British State.
The establishment is in desperate need
of a shake up and an accelerated departure of the self-congratulatory nexus of
egotists can’t come soon enough.