Sleaze scandal scuppers second jobs

So Owen Paterson managed in a month what 100 years of opposition efforts couldn’t: turn his true blue seat to yellow for the first time since the aftermath of the Boer War. Mr S wonders if his newly elected successor Helen Morgan will show her appreciation in her maiden speech – ‘thanks Owen, couldn’t have done it without you.’ 

But even though he’s gone, Paterson’s influence still seems to be felt on the green benches. For it seems that the sleaze scandal which his downfall triggered has spooked older MPs into quitting lucrative second jobs, judging by the newly-updated register of members’ interests. A number of senior Tories have shed many of these commitments in the last three weeks.

These include Sir Greg Knight, who has now left his role as an adviser to Cambridge and Counties Bank which he held since the 2019 election. The East Yorkshire MP was paid £16,000 monthly in arrears tp provide ‘general business and public relations advice’ but updated his entry on 2 December to note he stopped this role on 30 November.