Labour has-beens chase £4m gravy train as police supremos
SEVEN former Labour ministers are set to pocket more than £4million in public money by kickstarting their fading political careers as elected police commissioners.
Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is expected to earn £155,000 a year in pay and pension contributions if he becomes the first police and crime boss for Humberside.
Lord Prescott leads a roll call of Labour rejects and retreads who are seeking to cash in on Government plans to create 41 elected bureaucrats to set police priorities around the country.
Six other former ministers – Tony Lloyd, Alun Michael, Jane Kennedy, Vera Baird, James Plaskitt and Paddy Tipping – will all pocket between £106,000 and £141,000 a year by topping up their MP and ministerial pensions.
Research by the Conservative Party has found that former Labour MEP Simon Murphy will also take home around £116,000 if he wins as commissioner for West Mercia Police.
The details emerged as Labour and the Tories launched their nationwide campaigns for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, which are due to be held on November 15.
The winning candidates will serve for a fouryear term.
If Lord Prescott succeeds, he will receive a salary of £75,000, some £10,000 more than an MP currently earns.
He will also benefit from around £20,000 a year in pension contributions from the final salary scheme which is being run by local police authorities for the commissioners. Lord Prescott collects an annual pension of around £37,000 as an ex-MP and a further £23,000 a year in ministerial pension.
He also receives further payments for afterdinner speeches and media appearances.
Tony Lloyd, a former chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, is set to earn £100,000 a year if he becomes police commissioner for Greater Manchester, while Alun Michael for South Wales Police and Jane Kennedy for Merseyside Police, will earn £85,000 a year from their salaries.
Mr Tipping for Nottinghamshire and Mr Murphy are expected to earn £75,000, £10,000 more than Mr Plaskitt.
Vera Baird is standing for election as Northumbria’s commissioner with a salary of £85,000.
Each can expect to gain £20,000 a year in crime commissioner pension contributions, while the average pension for a retiring MP is £21,000 a year.
Based on these figures, the seven former MPs and Mr Murphy would collect a total of £1,012,000 for at least the next four years.
The Tories have just one former MP running, though not without controversy.
Michael Mates, 78, who is standing in Hampshire, saw his political career wrecked after disclosures about his close links with the fugitive financier Asil Nadir.
His basic salary will be £85,000 but after 36 years in Parliament he will also have a large Parliamentary pension.
A spokesman for Lord Prescott declined to comment on the figures.