Last September, the Resolution Foundation - a think-tank
that describes itself as working "to improve the living standards of those
in Britain on low to middle incomes" - said that there were six million
families in the UK that were 'just managing.'[1]
Inevitably these families were christened the JAM's, or the 'just about
managing.' The report does not say how many of these families include someone
who has had to take two jobs to make ends meet, but one imagines there are
many, since according to an article in the Financial Times from January 2015,
there were 1.2 million people with two official jobs - factor in those who
moonlight and therefore don't declare their second income and the number will
be significantly greater.
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| Chancellor Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement was supposed to offer help to the JAMs - there seems to be little evidence. |
Naturally, the majority of those people who hold down two
jobs do so through economic necessity: a few might be doing something they love
and earning a little extra as a bonus, but for the bulk of second-jobbers, it
is more likely that their two jobs probably pay minimum wage or just above, and
they have been forced to take them purely to keep their heads above water. And
in all probability, the number of people taking on second jobs will increase in
the future. The proliferation of the gig economy and the popularity of zero
hours contracts (popular with employers, if not with workers), the raising of
the normal retirement age and changes to pension arrangements have, among other
factors, dramatically changed the face of work in the UK in recent years.
But there is one thing that has not changed - and probably
never will - and that is that while for a vast swathe of the population
worrying about money, scrimping and saving, fretting about putting food on the
table are a way of life, there is a section of society that is isolated and
insulated from such concerns. And among that latter set are the people who make
decisions that affect the former group, namely our Members of Parliament.
Ironically, this group also includes some who have second jobs, and while there
may be few who are impecunious, there will undoubtedly be some whose lifestyle
and their reluctance to live within their means makes that second income a
necessity. For many companies, the opportunity to engage an MP has less to do
with what they can do in the office or in the boardroom and more about what
they can do for the company in Westminster.
 |
| How the Evening Standard announced George Osborne's appointment. |
 |
| How George's local paper might have reported the news. |
When I heard the news of Osborne's appointment as editor of
the Standard I immediately assumed that he would be resigning as an MP, that in
the wake of his sacking as Chancellor and his return to the back benches he
would be looking for an alternative to politics. I assumed that he had decided
that remaining an MP would not be sustainable while also being editor of a
daily newspaper: I doubt I was alone in that misapprehension. Former Tory
Cabinet Minister David Mellor, writing in a blog on the LBC website, expressed surprise
that Osborne thinks he can juggle his new role and his other jobs with his
existing commitments to his constituents. But Mellor says that MPs should not
be barred from having and form of second job, because, he says, "There’s
actually no reason for MPs to be full time. There isn’t actually enough for them
to do, particularly with the money they now have to employ staff to do their
correspondence and casework etc."
 |
| David Mellor |
I am sure that a lot of very hard-working MPs will not
recognise David Mellor's view, but if he is right, that many
MPs do not have enough to do to fill the hours, then we are being seriously
short changed: £74,000 for a part-time jobs seems a bit excessive, but if this
were put to them, MPs would vote to reduce their hours to fit the work they
actually do, rather than trim their salaries.
 |
| "I'm rich, rich I tell you!" |
It seems that in order to fulfil his obligations to his new
employers, Osborne will need to be at his desk by 5am, and work till mid-day
before heading for Westminster - if indeed he bothers to attend: Labour MP for
Bassetlaw, John Mann has accused Osborne of being "invisible" in
Parliament while his boss, Jeremy Corbyn said, "The appointment makes a
mockery of the independence of the media." I'm not sure how independent
any of our media is anyway, but Osborne's appointment, less than a year after
he was poster boy for the Remain campaign in the EU referendum, suggests that
the editorial policy of the Standard is going to especially critical in its
examination of Theresa May's Brexit negotiations with Brussels.
I can't imagine that all of Osborne's new colleagues at the
Evening Standard are overjoyed at the prospect of having someone with no
journalistic experience as their new boss either. Having worked in offices
where new managers, with no previous experience of banking, were parachuted and
having this justified on the grounds that managing people and processes is
generic and requires no prior knowledge of the business, I can vouch for the
fact that there is certain tension as a result. I expect Osborne's reception at
the Standard to be indifference at best. He certainly won't be popular, but I
suspect he is used to that.
Since we live in a time when the media is under attack for
bias and the alleged circulation of fake news, and when the standing of
politicians has reached a similarly low ebb, it is perhaps appropriate that the
two worlds meet as a result of Osborne entering journalism: maybe the two of them deserve each other.
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