1 in 4 Westminster staff got job through contacts

More than one in four staff members that work for MPs and peers in Westminster got their job through personal connections, a new report has found. Almost a third (31 per cent) of Westminster staffers completed unpaid work and a fifth (19 per cent) of these placements lasted longer than six months, research from Sutton Trust reveals.

Only half (51 per cent) of these employees found their role through an advert – and more than a quarter (26 per cent) found their job through a personal connection, the report says. Conservatives were more likely than Labour to have been offered their post through a personal connection (29 per cent to 20 per cent), the research for the social mobility charity finds.

The report highlights that people working in the offices of MPs and peers form the backbone which runs parliament and many go on to work in prominent roles in politics, policy and public affairs. It warns that unpaid internships and the use of personal networks “lock out young people from low and middle-income backgrounds” who lack the wealth or connections to get into the career.

On the figures revealing that a quarter of Westminster employees secured their job through personal connections, Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, said: “This prevents young people without the same networks from accessing jobs and getting the experience they need. “This is a major social mobility issue. To address it, job selection in Westminster should be based solely on merit.”

Fiona Bruce is set to become the first female presenter of the BBC’s Question Time, it has been reported. The presenter of BBC News at Six is in talks to take over from veteran host David Dimbleby, who will leave the show next month after 24 years.

If given the role she would become the first female host since the show first aired in 1979. Bruce auditioned for the role alongside a number of other leading broadcasters, according to the BBC. The reports, which are unconfirmed, suggest that an announcement will be made in the coming days.

Several other high-profile names have been rumoured to be possible successors for Dimbleby, including Emily Maitlis, Victoria Derbyshire, Nick Robinson, Jeremy Paxman and Huw Edwards.