MPs need a proper HR service

The most damning bit of the lurid Mark Menzies case is that the Conservatives had been aware of the allegations for three months before they story broke this week – but only stripped him of the whip yesterday. It’s not a particular surprise, though: for years it has been clear that the whips office holds conflicting responsibilities of persuading MPs to vote as well as disciplinary or pastoral work. Something needs to change.

Parliament does have a very small HR system, though many MPs don’t know about it, much as many MPs don’t know about the help that the parliamentary wellbeing service can give them, including treatment for mental illness. Neither of these services are adequate, though. We have reached a stage where there needs to be an acknowledgement that the job of an MP is sufficiently pressured and demanding that not everyone is up to that life, and so there needs to be proper screening of candidates at an early stage, much as there is for other lines of work, like aviation.