Ex-health minister Dan Poulter who also works as a hospital doctor, says Conservatives have become ‘nationalist party of the right’

  • loobkoob@kbin.socialOP
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    6 months ago

    I don’t think it’s that, considering he’s standing down at the next election anyway:

    He said he would not seek re-election to the House of Commons at the next general election. But, writing in the Observer, he says he envisages a role advising the Labour party on its policies on mental health while focusing more on his NHS work.

    Whether that advisory role would be paid or not, I don’t know, but it certainly wouldn’t be to the tune of £90K!

    • mannycalavera@feddit.uk
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      6 months ago

      Interesting 🤔. Thanks for the clarification.

      Out of interest do the Labour party publish stats on how much they pay advisors? Or might they do that when in government since he’ll be a government advisor at that stage? If assume an advisor is on a pretty decent wedge.

      • loobkoob@kbin.socialOP
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        6 months ago

        I’d assume we’d have to wait until he was an actual government advisor before we got any figures (if at all). And yeah, advisors can do pretty well for themselves, although how much they get paid depends on how involved they are. Advisory roles can range from full-time consulting roles and helping with policy creation to “hey, can you just spend a couple of hours reading through these documents and give us your thoughts?” once every few months.

        You can see the pay for the government’s special advisors (ie, the top tier of advisors) here if you’re interested. Bear in mind those are in the top, top tier of advisors so most aren’t necessarily going to be paid that much.

          • loobkoob@kbin.socialOP
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            6 months ago

            It certainly is a lot, although it’s the sort of thing where, when you really think about it, you’d kinda hope it’s something the government is willing to spend money on. You don’t want all the best and brightest just going to private companies because they can earn 3x as much as the government is willing to pay. (Whether the current SPADs are the best and brightest, I don’t know… If they are, it’s certainly not reflected in the government’s decision-making! But I think the point still stands that there needs to be a financial motivation for talented people to work in government rather than private businesses.)

            Yeah, the diversity looks pretty bad…