MPs' financial interests — Full and complete registration — 30 Apr 2009 at 17:00

The majority of MPs voted for a tightening of rules for the Register of Member's interests regarding directorships and remunerated employment.^[1] The motion, which was passed, required them to furnish the Registrar with:

• the precise amount of each individual payment made in relation to any interest,
• the nature of the work carried out in return for that payment,
• the number of hours worked during the period to which the payment relates, and
• the name and address of the person, organisation or company making the payment (except where disclosure of the information would be contrary to any legal or established professional duty of privacy or confidentiality)

This would apply to all such interests, not only those whos value exceeded 1% of the Parliamentary salary.

Patrick Cormack MP was nervous about this level of detail proposed an amendment to this motion:^[2]

• I should like to delete the reference to hours in motion 3. There is a lovely story about the painter Whistler. He was once in a court case accused of knocking off his pictures in an hour or half an hour, and he said, "That picture does not represent an hour's work but a lifetime's experience." Often a Member of Parliament is in a position to give advice and may not take very long to give that advice, but it is of great value to those to whom it is given.

but withdrew it when it came to the vote.

• [1] Chris Bryant MP, House of Commons, 30 April 2009
• [2] Parick Cormack MP, House of Commons, 30 April 2009

Debate in Parliament | Source |