Our dysfunctional system puts off outsiders, even if they would make better politicians than the ones we have
When the rumours started that Ed Balls was eyeing a comeback as an MP, the reaction from most people in Westminster was “why would he bother doing that?” Labour’s former shadow chancellor has forged a fun career for himself since unexpectedly losing his Morley and Outwood seat in 2015; enjoying the Strictly Come Dancing limelight, writing a cookery book and presenting documentaries. He has looked visibly happier and healthier since losing his seat. Why on earth would he come back to being an MP, with all the misery that entails?
The answer in Balls’ case is probably the same as it is for many in politics: it’s an addiction. That’s why politicians are happy to put up with a dysfunctional parliamentary culture, the weird working hours (and weird colleagues) and people generally disliking them. His wife, Yvette Cooper, is still a Labour MP and flying high in the party, so it won’t be a surprise to Balls if life hasn’t really improved since he was last on the green benches. In many ways it has got worse, to the extent that only addicts will find the life attractive, while outsiders, who might still make very good legislators, stay well away.
Members of the public repeatedly tell pollsters that they’d be interested in becoming an MP (the latest poll, from YouGov in February of this year, puts the proportion at 21%). But on the basis of the sort of people who end up actually becoming MPs, I wonder whether this poll is similar to those showing that one in eight men think they’d probably win a point in a tennis match against Serena Williams, in that it doesn’t bear much relation to what would really happen. In these polls about whether they’d like to stand for parliament, people then make it very clear they’ve noticed the downsides of the job that would put them off: online abuse and the impact on their family tend to be the reasons most cite for not wanting to enter parliament.
When I interviewed MPs who were standing down at the 2019 election, they also mentioned these as factors in their decisions to quit, often after a reasonably short time in office. Of the 74 MPs who stood down, 21 did so after just nine or fewer years in office. Women were far more likely to leave early than men: 52% of women leaving had served nine years or fewer, with just 25% of men doing the same. Some said they’d always imagined just being in the Commons for a decade. Others had burned out in a way they hadn’t expected, thanks to the pressures of combining life in parliament, a constituency and fitting a family in between. Threats and abuse just made that balance seem less justifiable.
Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of the Spectator and presenter of Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster
