Ethics watchdog begins consultation on UK MPs' second jobs

Parliament’s ethics watchdog has launched a consultation on reforming rules governing MPs’ second jobs, in the wake of the appointment of George Osborne as editor of the Evening Standard.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life announced it would examine whether former ministers and other MPs or peers who had held senior roles were likely to face greater potential conflicts of interest when they took up second jobs or advisory posts.

It will also examine whether the guidance about second jobs – which says they are permitted “within reasonable limits” – is in need of an overhaul.

The committee’s chair, Lord Bew, has insisted his review was not prompted solely by the former chancellor’s case, saying it had been under consideration for some time.

“While it is for others to consider individual cases, the committee wants to look at the current compromise which does not ban MPs holding outside interests, providing they are within reasonable limits and that there is transparency about them,” he said.

“We welcome views from the public and any interested parties on these issues. For example, what factors should be taken into account in determining the reasonable limits on MPs’ outside interests and is the current level of transparency sufficient?”

Of the committee’s nine members, three who are MPs and peers have recused themselves from the consultation: the Labour MP Margaret Beckett, Lib Dem peer Lord Andrew Stunell and Conservative MP Angela Watkinson.

Osborne is due to start his role at the London newspaper on 2 May, which he will combine with his duties as an MP for Tatton. It emerged on Thursday that Osborne has a paid speaking engagement in Paris on the second day of his new job, when parliament is also sitting.

The newspaper’s publisher said the Evening Standard’s schedule would “enable Mr Osborne to edit the paper and continue to fulfil his other commitments, including as an MP; giving him the time to vote and contribute in parliament in the afternoon after the paper has gone to print, and be in his constituency”.

Osborne will also earn £650,000 a year as a senior adviser to the Blackrock Investment Institute, and has a paid after-dinner speaking role with the Washington Speakers Bureau. He also chairs a thinktank, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.