Being an MP should be enough – just focus on that job, please

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Former cabinet minister has resigned after a lobbying scandal (Getty)

Owen Patterson’s scandalous behaviour must raise the question over MPs holding multiple jobs, not just paid lobbying. We should all be able to expect that our MP takes his or her responsibilities seriously enough to devote their full working time to being an MP and isn’t sidetracked by one, and often many more, other jobs. If an MP can find time for jobs on the side then they are not doing their principle job properly.

A salary of almost £82,000 should be adequate recompense and is far above the income of the vast majority of an MP’s constituents.

Tim Sidaway

Hertfordshire

Many, if not most, MPs in receipt of a salary of over £80,000 no doubt find their workload such that the thought of taking on further paid employment would not be possible. So if they were to be given the opportunity of earning hundreds of thousands of pounds for extra work that they could fit into their busy schedule they must surely either think that they are uniquely worth it, or that they are being asked to do something decidedly dubious.

G Forward

Stirling

No obvious alternative to the Tories

It’s great that papers like The Independent continue to highlight the colossal self-interest, corruption and all-around incompetence of the current Tory government. But it won’t matter, not for a long time.

One of the major flaws in any democratic system is that, to paraphrase a football term, you can “only vote for what’s in front of you”. Winning an election isn’t like winning a marathon, the Tour De France or Wimbledon. To win those, or similar events, you have to be the best, or at least the best during the course of the particular event. But that’s not the case with an election. A core of people will vote for their Tory, or Labour, candidate, no matter what they are like, no matter what they have done and no matter who the leader is. In the case of the Tories, in particular, if your family is rich enough, you can get put forward for a safe seat and get elected.

I mean, why else would anyone in their right minds actually vote for some of the current crew as leaders of this normally modern, intelligent and mature country?

Brexit has driven core Labour voters towards the Tories, for a while. They are going to stay there for some time yet since Brexit is far from done and still leads to polarised views no matter how clear that it was a bad idea.

The only real hope is that the relatively small number of moderate, floating voters, move away from the Tories and punish this government soon. But they need a viable alternative, and it isn’t obvious.

John Maxwell

Bournemouth

“If the Conservative Party had real guts, its MPs would rise up and select a new, disciplined, leader with a moral compass who would steer the party back to its roots.” (Letters, 7 November). And where, exactly, does Michael Benson think that they are going to find one of those?

Alan Mackay

East Lothian

Brexit irony

Reading John Rentoul’s splendid article (“Here we go again – a no-deal Brexit is back on the table”, 7 November) brought one conundrum to mind: how did we arrive at a point where we are represented by an unelected official – David Frost – in negotiations with elected officials from the EU, purely because we were bombarded with erroneous claims that we were controlled by unelected Europeans?

Robert Boston

Kent

Grapes of wrath

I refer to the article, “8 best wine aerators to open up the full potential of your vino” (4 November). The recommended wine aerator was a model costing £70. Seventy pounds! For a piece of plastic with holes in it! The best and cheapest way to aerate wine is to open the bottle early and to pour the contents early. I will spend the £70 on at least 12 bottles of supermarket plonk.

Sam Boote

Nottingham