Politicians must be clear on second jobs, says PM’s ethics adviser

POLITICIANS seeking election must reveal whether they will take second jobs if they win, Theresa May’s ethics adviser has said.

Lord Bew, who leads the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said candidates should be “as open as possible”.

He called for them to publish what income streams they currently have and be clear about whether they would continue if they enter Parliament. The comments come in the wake of an outcry over George Osborne, the former chancellor who remained an MP after taking the editorship of the London

Evening Standard. He has since decided to step down after the snap general election was called.

In a statement posted online before purdah – which limits what government bodies can do in election campaigns – began last week, Lord Bew called for transparency. “The election is an opportunity for all candidates to be as open as possible with their voters about the outside interests they intend to retain if elected as their MP,” he said.

The crossbench peer also quoted from a 2009 recommendation which said: “All candidates at parliamentary elections should publish, at nomination, a register of interests including the existence of other paid jobs and whether they intend to continue to hold them, if elected.”

The Committee on Standards in Public Life was set up in the wake of the election expenses scandal exposed by

The Daily Telegraph and advises the Prime Minister on ethical standards.

‘Election is opportunity for all candidates to be as open as possible’