As soon as David Marshall resigned as Glasgow East’s MP, everyone was looking for the “real” story. Unkind souls say that most MPs stay in office through invalidity so their families can receive the mammoth death-in-service payout (a lump sum of four times their pensionable salary, plus whatever their ill-health pension would have been – details here). Given there are (scandalously) zero requirements made of an MP – you can jet off to Barbados for four years after being elected if you want – it is possible for the infirm to be elected from their hospital beds. So an MP who stands down due to ill health (like Marshall) is, in effect, denying their family this huge lump sum. So should we not salute Marshall for his honest in not indulging in this scam?
Since he quit, the press has smelt a large, whiskered rat and went hunting for it. The Glasgow Herald today reports on some rumours which are about the fifth set I’ve heard. But even if Marshall has been up to no good, I hereby forgive him. In resigning, he has focused Britain’s attention on his seat for three weeks – the sort of place that is normally forgotten. It was a powerful act, and one which has done his constituents a great service by putting them, and their problems, squarely on the map. In this way, resigning was the best thing David Marshall ever did for the East End of Glasgow.
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