Tony Blair says politicians are underpaid [View all]

[T_i_B]

Source: BBC

Politicians are not well paid compared to leaders in the private sector, Tony Blair has warned.

Better salaries would improve the "gene pool" of political leaders, he wrote in an article in the New York Times.

The comments came in a wide-ranging piece about the "malaise" in democracies across the world.

"Only an ex-politician can say this - politicians are not really well paid by the standards of the private sector," Mr Blair wrote. "This restricts the attractions of a political career, at exactly the time when we most need the gene pool of our politicians to be varied, vibrant and vigorous."

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30342948

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The offending article http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/opinion/tony-blair-is-democracy-dead.html?_r=2

Given the abuses of parliamentary expenses by MP's that flourished during Blair's time as PM (Blair himself being an offender on that count) I think Blair's views on that subject lack credibility.

And on another point in the article, Blair himself benefited from a safe seat in parliament. And seeing the behaviour of Blair and numerous other political toadies in safe parliamentary seats, I'm not sure that they do pay much attention to grassroots concerns once they get in.