MPs deserve more than a £2,500 pay rise

It looks set to be a happy April for MPs who are in line for a 2.8 per cent pay rise, lifting their salaries to £93,904. Your reaction to that figure likely depends on how much you earn. So does mine – and since I’m about to argue that MPs are underpaid, it’s only fair I give a sense of my own finances. I’ll stay schtum about my books and biotech startup, but I’ll admit – no boasting intended – that this piece will net me, after tax, somewhere in the mid to high two figures.

As my byline makes clear, I’m also a consultant physician. Our salaries, like those of MPs, are public information. A basic full-time job – extras aside, although they’re the norm – pays £105,504 in a consultant’s first year; £139,882 after fourteen more. Clearly, I’m not taking time out from medicine to write this piece for the money – but it’s a nice point to question whether this makes my motives more suspicious, not less.